Everything for her safety
by Xillax
Summary: Reflet woke up in a field without any memories, with her only a coat, a sword, and a heavy white tome. The Shepherds take her as their tactician, but the shadows of war are lurking on Ylisse again, will she manage to get her new friends through war unharmed. Meanwhile, Plegia's Grandmaster is preparing his troops for a war he doesn't believe in. Rated M for some bloody stuff.
1. Prologue

**Everything for her safety**

 **AN:**

 **Hi there! I was at university (studying, of course...) thinking in ways to forget the fact that we the europeans and australians are the only unlucky idiots who still don't have a Fire Emblem Fates release date when everybody else is enjoying it. So after having finished Genealogy of the Holy war twice since Fates came out in NA, I decided that the best way to forget about Fates was to write a Fire Emblem fic.**

 **I hope you enjoy and review. English is not my birth language so sometimes I'll have some errors that I can't spot, so if you spot any please tell me.**

* * *

Prologue:

 _There she was, running towards a tall thin man with black hair and Sorcerer robes, the man was wielding a black tome, it was glowing with a deep purple light and it was letting out a lot of dark energy. She was alongside a man with unique blue hair wielding a glowing broadsword, while she was wielding a white tome, glowing with a pure white light. She seemed to be wearing a dark purple coat with purple lines and with the hood on._

 _The bluenette started a barrage of attack towards the sorcerer, his sword clashing with blasts of dark thunder coming from the sorcerer's hands. The hooded woman started charging a ball of lightning in her hand, looking for an opening to hit the sorcerer without harming her ally. The sorcerer then jumped and blasted a big ball of purple flames towards the two warriors, sending them to the ground, while falling the hooded woman shoot his charged spell towards the enemy, but he evaded the spell teleporting himself to the ground, not to far from the bluenette, who was using his sword as support to get on his feet. The sorcerer started charging the same spell he used while aiming at the bluenette; at the moment the sorcerer shoot his spell the hooded woman jumped from the ground sending a ball of lightning towards the spell trying to intercept it. The spells met each other causing a great explosion._

 _The hooded woman found himself next to her ally, both now on their feet looking at their enemy_

" _This is it! Our final battle! It doesn't matter who your family is, or what you were supposed to be in this life. You are one of us Reflet, one of our family, and no god can change that" The bluenette then put a hand on her shoulder giving her a reassuring smile. The hooded woman nodded at him with a smile while pulling the hood of her coat back. "Thank you Chrom, now let's kill this bastard so that we can finally go home."_

 _As she pulled the hood back revealing her silver hair tied in two ponytails and her crimson eyes, she grabbed the hilt of her Levin sword from her coat._

 _Then both warriors started attacking the sorcerer with their swords in hand. The sorcerer was deflecting the attacks in the best way he could. Now the two had the advantage over the sorcerer who with each attack of the two warriors he was getting slower. Chrom directed a fast thrust aiming at the sorcerer's heart and all he could do was try to slow his attack with a quick spell, but the spell was only enough to change the trajectory of the attack, managing Chrom to stab his shoulder._

 _Reflet then saw that the sorcerer was still trying to recover from the shock of the blow and put the palm of her hand, bolts dancing in her fingers, in the sorcerer's chest._

" _THORON!" Reflet yelled before the sorcerer had the opportunity to react, and with Reflet's words a powerful spear of lightning came out of her hand making a hole in the sorcerer's body. He then fell to the ground, dark flames consuming him._

 _Chrom then turned to Reflet smiling at her, but before he could say anything the sorcerer stood up still in flames. "This isn't over! DAMN YOU BOTH!" Following those words came out a blast of dark energy from the disappearing sorcerer aiming at the bluenette. Without thinking it twice, Reflet shoved aside Chrom and took the dark energy spell, sending her to the ground._

 _Chrom went to help her right away helping her to stand up. "That's it, that's the end of him, thanks to you we saved the day, now we can go back home with the others" The bluenette was still speaking when suddenly Reflet had a terrible headache and felt dizzy to the point where she was about to throw up. She was seeing everything in red and felt her right hand burning and glowing with a dark purple light that contrasted with the pure light that her tome had while she was attacking the sorcerer. They both saw a figure approaching the pair. Chrom turned to see Reflet and suddenly his smile was changed with a worried face. "Hey, are you alright, let me take you to the hea-" He couldn't end his sentence, Reflet then looked to Chrom's body, seeing a lightning spear similar to the one she used against the sorcerer going through Chrom's body. Reflet wanted to help him, but she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything, all she could do was stay there as she felt tears streaming down her face. "This... this isn't your fault... promise me... you will escape from here" with those words, the bluenette fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming around his body, the spell still in him. She then saw the figure that was approaching. Her vision was starting to fade away and all she could distinguish from this figure was a wicked smile and two glowing crimson eyes._

 _Before she lost consciousness completely, a frightening laughter began echoing in her head and all she could see was six big red eyes, looking at her like they were mocking her.  
_

* * *

 _In some random average field..._

She was laying in the grass, completely unconscious, she wanted to open her eyes but she couldn't, she felt really tired for some reason.

"Chrom, we have to do something" It was a female voice, high pitched, probably she was in her first teens. The name that the girl mentioned sounded extremely familiar in the head of the laying woman.

"What do you propose we do" She couldn't wait any more he wanted to wake up, this male voice sounded extremely familiar and he wanted to see who it belonged to.

"I... I don't know..." before she could say anything else, they saw that the woman who was laying in the grass was starting to open her eyes. As soon as she opened her eyes she instantly put her hands on her face, shielding her crimson eyes from the sunlight while closing them again. She then opened her eyes again slowly and saw the owners of the two voices. The male voice pertained to a man with unique blue hair who was at most in his early twenties, perhaps twenty or twenty one, the female one belonged to a blonde haired girl who looked in her mid teens, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years. She had her hair tied up in two ponytails.

The two figures approached the woman to check on her. "Hey there, are you okay?" The girl asked with a smile as the man offered his hand to the stranger "There are better places to take a nap you know. Here, take my hand" The stranger did as she was told and the bluenette pulled her from the ground.

"Thanks Chrom." Before she could say anything else she saw the surprised look on the man's face. 'Darn, why did I say his name like I've known him all my life' "So you already know my name huh?" The stranger expected a suspicious look from the man but all she got was a smile from his face as she felt relieved. "Yes, er... I don't know... it just came to me..." She began to touch her chin while of a rational reason as to why that name sounded so familiar 'I am sure it's the first time I have heard this name, why does it seem so familiar!'

"Well, that doesn't matter, what's your name? What are you doing here"

"My name is... it's..." She brought her hand to her head as she started to feel dizzy 'Why can't I remember anything! This is so frustrating, if I try to remember I just feel worse!' "I can't remember... I can't seem to remember anything... I know it seems strange but it's the truth!"

Before she could even try to calm down she noticed that with Chrom and the girl was a third figure, a tall and well built knight with an imposing armour and brown hair, he was standing next to a war horse that seemed his.

The knight shot the woman a sceptical glare before stepping in between Chrom and the stranger. The tension at that moment could be cut with a butter knife.

"I heard about something like that, I think losing your memories and all that stuff is called amnesia" The girl said that with a cheerful tone trying to ease the tension.

"I would call that a load of bullshit. Milord, milady, you sure don't expect me to believe that this woman remembers milord's name but not hers, all that while she is wearing a Plegian coat of the Grimleal church, and I must say this coat doesn't exactly look like the normal coat that an average low-rank priest would wear."

Before the knight could anything else Chrom stepped in front of the knight as if he was shielding the confused woman from the wary knight. "But what if what she says is true? We can't leave her here alone and confused. What kind of Shepherds would we be then. We will just take her to Southtown and sort out things there."

"W-Wait don't I have a say in this. Am I just your prisoner now?" The woman now sounded worried and scared. She woke up just five minutes ago with her mind a complete blank slate and she was being accused of being a liar or maybe something even worse. Was there a reason as to why she shouldn't worry?

The bluenette saw the worried look on the woman's face and decided to put both his hands gently on her shoulders and giving her a comforting smile. "Don't worry, we will hear all you have to say back in town and once we make sure you are no enemy to Ylisse you'll be free to go if you want"

As Chrom took out his hand from the woman she felt immensely relieved and finally managed to ease her worries. "Ylisse? So this is where we are?"

"So you have never heard of the Halidom? HA! Someone pay this actress, she plays quite the fool, the furrowed brow is specially convincing..."

"Frederick! Enough." Chrom cut the knight as he turned to the stranger. "This land is known as the halidom of Ylisse, our ruler, Emmeryn is called the exalt. I believe we should introduce ourselves. As you seem to already know, my name is Chrom, I am the leader of the Shepherds, a small militia. The delicate one here is my little sister Lissa.

Lissa pouted hearing her brother's words. "I am NOT delicate! Hmph! Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick sometimes. But you're lucky we found you, I couldn't imagine what would have happened if brigands found an unconscious woman on a field..."

"Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Lissa... Anyways, the wary one is Frederick, also known as Fredreick the Wary."

"A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but... Careful Milord! There is a broken mirror on the ground, if you step on it you could get injured..." Suddenly, the woman saw her reflection on the mirror. As she was hearing Frederick telling Chrom how he shouldn't get himself in situations that could threat his life all she could was stare at her silver hair and her crimson eyes. "Reflet..." As she said the name, the three shepherds turn their looks on the woman "the name's Reflet... I don't know how I remembered... It just came to me."

"Reflet? Is it foreign? Well, that's one mystery solved, we are already close to the town so we'll settle things there..."

Before Chrom could finish Lissa rushed to her brother to get his attention and pointed to a big grey cloud. "Chrom! Look, the town!"

"Shit, those damn brigands again. Lissa, Frederick. Quickly!"

"What about her milord"

"Unless she's on fire as well, it can wait!"

"Aptly put, milord"

As Frederick got on his steed, the three Shepherds went to town as fast as they could, leaving Reflet alone 'Well that's great, what should I do now' As now she was alone, she noticed that her coat was quite heavy for being a simple coat, inspecting it, she found a sword and in one of the pockets she found a quite heavy white tome. She opened it and noticed all the strange words and symbols that were written on the pages, and even if she couldn't understand all things that were written, she could at least read all the contents. 'Well, I've made up my mind, I now know what to do' And with that, ran to town to aid the shepherds.

* * *

There were some buildings on fire and dead bodies on the streets. The brigands were surrounding a group of scared women, while a brigand who seemed the leader was laughing. "HA HA HA, well done lads! Grab everything you want, kill anyone who resists, spare the women, we will have some fun with'em later, heh heh..." The brigand gave the women a wicked smile and suddenly heard a loud cry. As he turned his head he saw a knight in heavy armour in a war horse skewing one of his men, alongside him a man with blue hair was striking another brigand with his broadsword, he saw a blonde cleric standing behind them and moved towards a myrmidon.

"Ya see that little cleric behind those men, get her, we can us 'er ta make them drop their weapons and after killing them we can add her to our collection." The myrmidon nodded and proceeded to move cautiously towards the cleric. As Frederick was caught up in a fight between two axe men and Chrom engaged another myrmidon, they failed to notice the myrmidon who quickly got to Lissa, after she noticed let out a loud scream as the myrmidon approached.

"LISSA!" Chrom then saw that a myrmidon was already next to Lissa, but he couldn't do anything to help her, giving the back to the other myrmidon could mean his end. Before the myrmidon could lay his hands on Lissa, he noticed a small ball of light fifteen feet over his head. "LIGHTNING"

"Shi-" Before the myrmidon could finish, rays of light began falling from the ball, striking the myrmidon down, leaving him dead.

Chrom and Frederick finally finished their small fights and turned around to look for the caster. The three Shepherds then noticed a familiar figure, a woman with a dark coat, silver hair and unique crimson eyes, smiling at them.

"Reflet!" Chrom and Lissa shouted, then both of them ran to meet Reflet. "What are you doing, why did you follow us? And what was that magic? It's the first time I've seen something like that."

"Whoa Chrom, slow down. I don't know why I followed you, it just seemed the right thing to do at the moment. As for the spell, well, it just seems pretty normal to me, guess I used to use it before I lost my memories."

"I see... So, you can use magic, think you can help us?" Chrom then noticed that Reflet was staring to the brigands. "What is it Reflet?"

"It's quite strange, here on the battlefield, I can see things. I can see clearly their strenght, their weapons, the flow of the battle... I am sure I can asses this information and create strategies with it. It feels like I'm used to do it, maybe that's what I used to do..."

"A tactician huh..." Chrom liked what he heard, a tactician who could formulate strategies just from what she caught from glances is a very valuable asset, and she used magic, so that meant that she didn't hide in the rear, she would go to the front lines and from there, she would be in a perfect position to adjust her strategies according to what happens there. 'I think I will ask her later if she wants to join the Shepherds, a tactician may just be what we needed, but first, I would like to see her in action, even if this is just a skirmish, I would like at least to see her attitude.'

"Hey Reflet, why don't you command us this battle?" Chrom's allies gave him a surprised look, even Reflet. "Milord, I would advise that-" Frederick was fast to state his opinion, but also was Chrom, who immediately raised his hand, signalling Frederick to stop.

"Fine, but only on one condition. I need you to assure to me that no matter what decision I make, even if it seems crazy to you, you will trust me and do as I say."

"I accept, you saved Lissa and came with us when you could have just escaped, and if you wanted to kill any of us you could have done so already, so I think I can trust you." Frederick was about to open his mouth again to object but this time Chrom was even faster. "Frederick, I order you to follow Reflet's orders as if they were mine"

"Yes Milord" Following those words, the knight let a loud sigh while Lissa and Reflet giggled.

* * *

"Frederick! Lure the two Myrmidons in front of us to that bridge to the east. They shouldn't be a problem for your armour and lance. Chrom, you take care of those two axemen to our left, I will go for the axemen close to bridge in the north, when I am finished with him, I'll take on the mage since I think I might have more resistance to magic than both of you. You will both will have finished your part when I engage the mage, so when he's distracted take him down. Lissa, you should follow Frederick but don't stay to close to him to avoid dangerous situations, in case one of the myrmidons tries to attack you I'm sure Frederick's mount will be fast enough to close distances if he has to get to you, if anyone needs healing, you can do it when we finish of the mage, before we cross the bridge. Now, move!" They all gave the tactician a nod moved to carry on the tactician's orders.

Frederick easily managed to lure the Myrmidons as he was told, and at the east bridge he engaged them. He drew his iron sword as the two myrmidons rushed towards him, both slashing their swords continuously at the knight. The knight didn't have any problem deflecting the attacks, when one of the myrmidons slowed a bit to get some rest for his arms after all those attacks, Frederick drew his silver lance in half a second and impaled the myrmidon in his chest to kill him.

He then saw the other myrmidon already next to him, thrusting his sword aiming at Frederick's heart. The blade of the sword broke upon making contact with the knight's armour, and before he could do anything, Frederick ended him the same way he ended the other myrmidon. All this with a wide smile in his face.

"Jeez Frederick, brother is right, you really only smile when you are about to bring down your weapon on the enemy."

"Of course, Milady".

Not to far from there, the two axemen instantly noticed the blue haired man approaching them, but before they could even do anything Chrom lunged towards one of the brigands, aiming his sword one of the axemen. The brigand parried the attack the best way he could with the flat part of his axe, but the strength in Chrom's attack left him staggering, giving Chrom enough time to strike again, beheading the brigand. The other brigand began attacking Chrom, but even if his blows seemed to have a lot of physical strength, they were quite imprecise. Chrom then approached the brigand and with a kick to the his knee he fell to the ground, without wasting a second, Chrom jumped and stabbed the Brigand in his chest.

Reflet thought that it would be best if she used the sword against the axeman. In case she couldn't finish off the brigand from a safe distance and he got close, she would waste some valuable time in changing weapons or preparing spells, besides, her weapon gave her advantage over an axe, and she felt fast enough to evade his attacks, sure brigands and axes are usually strong, but they rely to much on their strength and forget that hitting your opponent is as much as important as being strong.

She engaged the brigand and her suspicions were confirmed, the brigand's strikes were very imprecise. Reflet's sword sure wasn't the very best and didn't seem like one that could behead people easily so each time the brigand attacked she gave him cuts all around his body. Before he even realised it, the brigand's body was already a bloody mess, and probably thanks to that blood loss he seemed to faint, but just to make sure Reflet stabbed him in the back.

She then headed towards the mage, who when noticed her instantly drew his thunder tome and blasted a thunder ball towards the tactician, she was taken by surprise as she tried to escape but the spell hit her on her side, leaving a few burns. Reflet then saw that Frederick and Chrom were already finished so she decided to stall the mage a bit and let the others finish him.

She grabbed her tome and began to flip the pages. "Wind!" Reflet fired a gust of wind, but she didn't direct it to the mage, she instead decided to aim it at the ground around the mage, creating a cloud of dust around the mage, who could barely see anything. When the cloud was gone, he felt a pain in his chest, and saw the blade of a sword sticking out of his chest, Chrom pulled out his sword and the mage fell dead to the ground. "Hey, great use of the wind magic Reflet" He said while walking towards her. "It seems everything went as you planned, now what stra..." Then Chrom noticed the burns on Reflet's side "Hey are you okay Reflet?"

"Don't worry Chrom, it's just a small burn, thankfully the spell was a low-level one"

"Well, let Lissa check that anyway, I wouldn't want yo to get hurt for helping us, next time please don't put yourself in danger."

"Okay Chrom, I promise you I will be more careful next time"

* * *

"Well, that will do. Does it still hurt?" Lissa said as she finished treating Reflet with her staff. The healing magic did wonders on Reflet, as she felt the burn now mended and the pain nearly gone.

"Thank you Lissa, it still stings a bit but it's nothing I can't endure." Both women smiled at each, and Reflet quickly changed her attention to the bridge, she saw two myrmidons, two axemen and a mage, and behind them, at the church entrance stood the one that looked like their leader, all of them getting ready to attack at the Shepherds. Reflet then immediately got on Frederick's mount behind him surprising everyone, but before everyone could even say anything she began shouting orders.

"Frederick! The myrmidons are coming first, charge at them now, you take care of the one on the left while I take care of the other one with my magic, when you are finished charge towards the mage, and I'll take care of him, meanwhile, Chrom, take care of the two axemen, when we finish we'll take on their leader, Lissa, stay behind, if anyone gets injured wait at least until only the leader remains, so you will be free from danger to treat anyone who needs it."

Everyone nodded and Frederick charged, Reflet took out her tome and began flipping it's pages. Frederick quickly reached the myrmidons and impaled his target with his silver lance, the other myrmidon noticed a hand in his face before he could even react. "Thunder!" With those words, a thunder sphere came out of the tactician's hands towards the myrmidon's face, electrifying him and leaving him dead.

Frederick quickly resumed his charge towards the mage, the two axemen moved to interrupt him but Chrom quickly managed to catch their attention such that Frederick could continue without interruptions. Reflet saw the mage preparing the spell aiming towards them. 'I won't let you'.

Surprising everyone around she quickly got on her feet and jumped "WIND!" She aimed the spell to the ground behind her as she propelled herself with the spell towards the mage, she quickly drew her sword aiming at the mage's chest.

In a blink of an eye she reached and stabbed him, killing him instantly. It seemed that the axemen were also startled at the tactician's stunt, so Chrom found plenty of opening to finish them of easily. He then quickly rushed to the tactician helping her get on her feet, Frederick and Lissa came after him.

"Wow Reflet! Where did you learn this trick?

"What was that? Didn't we just tell you to be more careful?"

Reflet gave him a smile "I am sorry Chrom, but I just thought it to be the course of action at that moment to get to our goal with the least possible damages. And even if it may be a reckless action, if it can maximize the benefits and minimize the damages I will take it"

Chrom sighed, and put a hand on Reflet's shoulder "Fine, but next time you are going to be doing something like that take me with you, I don't like to be left behind" They both chuckled at Chrom's words.

"Okay then, I'll remember those words, let's just wrap this up. Frederick stay with Lissa, that brigand has a hand axe, I don't believe he will target her having us close, but it is best not to leave things to chance. Chrom, you and I will take on their leader, he looks tougher than the others, but I have a spell that can finish him quickly, if it's not asking to much, could you distract him until I find the right moment?" Chrom nodded

"While fighting him, let him have the upper hand, let him think that he is in control so that he gets overconfident, when you see bits of light forming around him quickly pull back."

Chrom approached the brigand, while he was approaching the leader drew his hand axe and threw it towards Chrom in an attempt to stop his approach. The bluenette stopped and deflected the axe with his sword, the brigand closed the distance between them instantly and began landing a barrage of attacks with his steel axe, Chrom was parrying all the attacks without much problems. Remembering Reflet's words, he didn't try to strike back, he just began moving backwards while parrying the strikes. The brigand grew a smirk on his face as he saw himself with the upper hand.

Reflet opened her tome again flipping through it's pages. She observed the fight between Chrom and the brigand satisfied because of the fact that everything was going according to what she had planned. Seeing the opening, she began preparing the spell, her tome now glowing with a strong white light. Small bits of light began forming around the brigand, Chrom noticed and quickly pulled back.

"Shine!" The brigand felt even more confident with himself after seeing Chrom pulling back, suddenly, gears of light began forming around him, the gears did small explosions when they made contact with the brigand, killing him. "Well, that's the end of that."

All four members got together, Lissa quickly approached Reflet with a huge smile. "Yeah, luckily for the town we were close by. But Wow Reflet! Sword, magic and tactics? And I have never seen anyone using magic like that, you looked awesome when you were flying! Is there anything you can't do?"

"Yes that's right, you certainly are no helpless victim, and I have never seen this kind of magic you use" Frederick the Wary on the offensive again, with his typical sceptical look. "Perhaps you might even come up with an explanation of how you came here."

"I understand your scepticism Sir Frederick, I would probably would do the same as you, but I told everything I know, honestly."

"She has fought for Ylissean lives, and my hearts tell me that's enough."

"And your mind, milord? Won't you heed to it's counsel as well?"

"Frederick, right now, there are brigands and an unruly neighbour looking to bloody our soil, would you really have lose such an able tactician? Besides, I believe her story, as odd as It might sound."

"Th-thank you Chrom"

"So how about it? Will you join us?" Reflet didn't need to think about a lot, she woke up in a field, with no memories, only her clothes, a bronze sword, a white tome and for some reason, tactical knowledge. She didn't know anyone and didn't have anywhere to go, so she would be crazy if she declined Chrom's offer. "I would be honored."

* * *

The Shepherds were already about to exit the town's gate when a villager came running to them. "Milord, stay this night please! We are simple folk of simple means but we would be honoured to have you in the feast we are preparing"

"A most generous offer, sir, and no doubt your hospitality would be grand. But I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol."

"Dark meat only for me, medium well, and no salt in the soup. I simply— Wait, what?! We're not staying?! But, Frederick, it's nearly dark!"

Reflet was also about to complain with Lissa, she was really starving and a soft bed would definitely feel good. But she couldn't really complain could she? A group of strangers just took her when she didn't have anywhere to go, and for that, she should be thankful, so the least she can do is at least not to bother them.

Frederick put on an annoying smile towards Lissa. "When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make our bed of twigs and the like. I believe you mentioned you would be "getting used to this"?"

"Frederick? Sometimes I hate you" Both Lissa and Reflet sighed deeply thinking of the meals and the beds that the knight had just declined. "You have quite the stern lieutenant there."

"Well, 'stern' is one way to say it, I can think of a few other words!" Chrom found the situation quite amusing and started to laugh. "Well, Frederick only smiles when he's about to bring down the axe on his enemy." Reflet shivered at the image of Frederick with a twisted smile on his face bringing down his axe on his enemy's head.

"Duly noted."

The knight cleared his throat loudly in order to catch their attention "You do realize I am still here right?"

"Oh, we do." Lissa and Reflet chuckled at Chrom's respones.

"Milord remains as amusing as ever, well then, shall we get going?" The knight now with a serious face responed, his words full of irony.

* * *

As they were now walking through the forest, Frederick turned to Chrom. "Did you notice milord? The bandits spoke with Plegian accent." Reflet remembered that Frederick mentioned that here coat was also Plegian, so she decided to ask. "Plegian, what's that?"

"Plegia is Ylisse's neighbour, it's in the west and they send small bands in our territory hoping to instigate a war." When Chrom mentioned the name of the country it sounded really familiar to Reflet 'Maybe I am Plegian after all? Maybe Frederick was right by being hostile to me. What if I to was against Ylisse before I lost my memories? No, I have to stop those thoughts, I'll deal with them when I remember something more.'

"And it's the poor townsfolk who suffer! Totally innocent, and totally helpless." Lissa's angry statement snapped Reflet out of her thoughts.

"They do have us, milady: Shepherds to protect the sheep. Do not be swept up in your anger. It will cloud your judgement."

"I know, I know, don't worry, I'll just get used to this"

As they were talking the sky was getting darker and darker, until the point were the only light in it were the stars and the moon's light. Reflet noticed that Lissa wasn't quite pleased. "I told you it was already getting dark! And now the place is filled with bugs. Disgusting and annoying bugs that bite you whenever you- Agh! Won goph in mah mouph! Blech! Ptooey!"

"Aw, come on now, Lissa. Hardship builds character. By the way, I am starving, we should start thinking in dinner." Reflet now remembered how hungry she was and before she could say anything a loud roar that echoed around the forest came out of her stomach. A huge blush formed in Reflet's face as the other Shepherds turned to see her, everyone now silent.

Frederick cleared his throat loudly "Yes, I think a little hunting would be appropiate."

* * *

The group of four was sitting around the fire that Frederick made in order to cook the meat that they had caught. Generous pieces of meat were served in the wooden plates that they used to eat in.

Chrom was definitely enjoying the meal, it remembered him of the first days he camped. He definitely preferred the food back in Ylisstol, but he also liked the meat he hunted when he camped from time to time. Lissa however was just staring at the wooden plate. "Are you serious? Bear meat? You couldn't catch something more normal? I don't know, you could have caught some birds or a deer or something else! You are messing with the food chain, right Reflet?"

Both Chrom and Lissa turned to the tactician only to find her eating her portion like a wild animal would eat it's prey. She had the largest portion and she was about to be the first to finish her meal. Lissa sighed "I suppose someone would enjoying anything after not eating for Naga knows how much."

"Just relax, eat it and enjoy it Lissa, meat is meat."

"Oh yeah? Since when edible meat does smell even worse than old boots?!"

"Every experience makes us stronger milady, even the ones we don't like" Lissa pouted, but then she noticed something, Frederick's plate was pretty much like hers, it remained untouched. "Really? The why can't I see YOU eating Frederick?" The knight gulped, realizing that he wasn't the best example in this particular case and he began thinking his way out of this. "Me? Well... I am not hungry... I... had a large lunch! Yes, quite."

"Yeah, whatever Frederick..."

As the group finished eating they all prepared themselves to sleep. Reflet was quite tired so she looked forward to some rest. She noticed that Chrom and Lissa were already asleep. 'They are quite close to each other, I wonder if I had any siblings or family that cared about me before I lost memories...' With a deep sigh she lay on the bedroll that they gave her and fell asleep in a matter of seconds. When she was already asleep she muttered a name "Robin..."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, somewhere in the Plegian capital_

"So, have you managed to secure her escape?" Asked a young man, probably twenty years old. He had short messy silver hair and his eyes were crimson red, he was wearing a dark cloak with purple lines, he also wore armour pieces on top of it for his shoulders and his arms and under the cloak he was wearing a breastplate.

A figure showed itself from the shadows of the room. "Yeah, no worries Bubbles, she got to Ylisse safely, hopefully she will get to the Exalt in one or two days."

The silver haired man let out a deep sigh. "Is something wrong, my love" A female voice with a sly tone approached the white-haired man and embraced from behind while he was still seated in his chair. "Not now Tharja, right now I have a lot of things to do. I have to try and stop Gangrel's madness before it's too late, the Exalt has been very kind agreeing to help us when she just could have turned me down. If I don't manage to stop Gangrel I'll end up directing Plegia's forces against the Exalt in a war that no matter who wins on the battlefield will only end up having losers. Shit! This really stresses me out, I need to relieve this stress."

Tharja smiled faking shyness and blushed while tightening her embrace. "Well my love, I can think of a few ways to help you relax." Robin freed himself from the embrace gently and stood up with a serious face. "No, in those cases there is only one thing that can relax me."

"Nyahahaha, are you going to do it? Can I come? Pleaaase? It's always so fun to watch you do it. I love it!" Said a fourth figure, a white haired young man in dark mage robes. "Sure, you may come if you want, but you can only watch, I need to relieve as much stress as I can so don't interfere Henry. Have you made the preparations?"

"Sure, I always have one or two prepared in case you want to relax so I can watch" The silver-haired man and Henry began to move to a room adjacent to the current room, before the silver-haired man reached the door he turned to his other two friends with a smile "I'll be back in a moment" He then took off his coat and the armour pieces and threw them to a bed, opened the door and entered the other room with Henry.

The walls and floor of the room were all stained in red and in the middle of room, there was a chained man on the floor with dark mage robes. The man noticed the two men entering entering and quickly kneeled. "P-Please spare my life young master." The silver-haired put an angered face when he heard the word 'master', he then closed the door.

Suddenly, from outside the room, loud cries of pain and agony and Henry's characteristic laugh could be heard. "You know what Sunshine? I'll never understand your obsession with Bubbles. I mean, he doesn't seem to be interested in romance right now and I am sure that if you wanted, you could have almost every man in Plegia yours"

"Hmph, an ignorant like you would never understand. There is no man in this world who is an equal to him. Nobody can equal the imposing aura that surrounds him. Every time it grows around him it sends shivers to all my body, I just can get enough of it. I want him to tie me to him, to make me his, to serve him all my life... And in spite of that aura, he is still the kindest man I know. And even if he doesn't show interest now, when he finally manages to settle things, I'll show him that I am the only woman worthy of his heart."

"Well, I'm no one to interfere so do as you please"

After fifteen minutes, the cries of pain stopped, but Henry's laugh continued. The door opened slowly as the two men exited. Henry was still laughing loudly while the silver-haired man had a relaxed face. His previously beige shirt was now all red, and his hair had now some red stains. He took off his shirt revealing his toned torso and arms, and went to a near wardrobe to take a similar beige shirt. Tharja flushed at the sight of the body she just saw.

"Nya ha ha ha! This was certainly the best session in months! This time you barely used magic, everything just seemed so natural!" The silver-haired man quickly put on another the other shirt and he then reached for his cloak. "Tharja, Henry, if you think you can take anything that can be of use for your hexes and curses be my guest."

In the room now there was no trace of the man, only a pool of fresh blood, some of this blood was also on the walls and there was some even in the ceiling, on top of the pool, a pile of different body parts separated from each other, and on top of them, there was what seemed to be the man's head, separated from it's neck, without it's eyes or it's ears.

He then went to the balcony of the room and stood there, staring at the east. "As Plegia's grandmaster, I am sure I will do a lot of unforgivable things, I don't know if you'll forgive me, but I don't care as long as you live to do so. Until we meet, please take care... Reflet... I will do EVERYTHING needed to ensure your safety..."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Well, that's the first chapter. Hope you liked it. I just like the fics where Avatar twins are present but I don't see a lot of them so I decided to try and write one.**

 **I already have somewhat planned the general guidelines of the story but there a lot of things that I still haven't decided. For example pairings, some of them have already been decided, but since I am also planning on doing a sequel, I might leave some Shepherds unpaired and settle things in the sequel.**

 **One of the people I am planning on leaving unpaired for this fic is Robin, if I end up not pairing him I'll write some "foreplay" between him and his potential pairings to leave things open for the sequel, but I will think of the possible pairings with him when I finish the war with Plegia. If you want to suggest a possible pairing for Robin you are welcome to do so, I will hear suggestions on ALL possible pairings for Robin, even Lucina (even if Robin will be her uncle). Well, I hope I managed to transmit my ideas clearly for this specific matter (my english is not as good as I would like).**

 **Even if some Shepherds will remain unpaired all future children will make their appearance, but not all of the future pairings will be the same as the present ones.**

 **All constructive criticism, suggestions, reviews and questions are welcome.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN:**

 **Hello there again. Finally! After Nintendo's direct last week we europeans finally get a realease date for Fates, the problem now will be finding the special edition, I feel like they will fly the moment that they are available.**

 **Anyways, the exams period is approaching so I will try to upload the next chapter before it starts. And thank you to all who reviewed, followed and favourited! As usual, I hope you enjoy and feel free to review, spot errors and make suggestions.**

* * *

Chapter 1:

" _Robin?" A girl no older than six said as she saw the door of the house open. After the door opened completely three figures appeared. The first one was a tall thin dark-skinned man with crimson eyes and black hair, next to him was a girl that looked on her first teens, maybe thirteen, her skin was a bit darker than the little girl's, she had long snowy white hair and her look was emotionless. The other one was a little boy who looked the same age as the little girl, both boy and girl had silver hair and crimson eyes. The tall man barely noticed the girls presence as he entered the house._

" _Robin! You are finally back!" The little girl ran to her twin brother with a huge smile in her face and hugged him with all her strength, nearly tackling him to the ground, Robin quickly returned the hug._

" _Robin, tomorrow at dawn we part again. Be ready by then." Both children quickly changed their expression to one of disappointment, specially Reflet since Robin had already expected something like that would happen. Reflet broke the hug with Robin and approached the tall thin man._

" _B-but father... You were out for more than two weeks and-"_

" _Silence, child!" Her father was quick to silence her and then he went to his room upstairs, the other girl following him. Robin didn't like seeing his sister sad, because of all the training his father put him into he was out many days, all his time was dedicated to the training of tactics, swordsmanship and dark magic so he barely had any friends. So the little time he had with his sister was almost the only time when he could relax with someone and seeing her sad pained him._

" _Don't worry sis, I'm sure this time we'll be back sooner than last time." He didn't really know if this was true, but he would do anything to cheer her up. "Let's go play some chess, and after that I want to show a cool idea I just had with wind magic. And then before bed we can let mother teach us some tactics together."_

 _Reflet quickly changed her expression after hearing Robin's plan. She nodded to him and they quickly went to their room to play the strategy game that their mother had taught them. After having played for some time, they went to a nearby field so that Robin could show her his idea. Each kid had their own tome, Robin's tome was black with purple lines and was given to him by his father, while Reflet's tome was pure white and was given to her by her mother. They both walked until they arrived at a tree. It was twenty feet tall and it's branches looked like they could resist more than one person in them._

" _Alright, so do you see this tree?" Reflet nodded. "Ok, let me show how I'll climb it." Robin opened his black tome and flipped through it's pages. It began to glow as Robin prepared the spell, and when his spell was prepared he aimed it to the ground as he propelled himself upwards, climbing the tree instantly. After he got up, he prepared the spell again, then he jumped and before he reached the ground he let out the spell to break his fall._

 _Reflet jaw's dropped seeing her brother flying like he wasn't human, she quickly ran to him with a huge smile and sparkling eyes. "Robin! Robin! Please teach me how you did that! That was sooo cool! You almost looked like a birdie!"_

 _Robin didn't liked the idea of resembling a little bird, his six-year old mind thought it didn't suit him. "A bird? I don't like it. A strong wyvern suits me better."_

" _Fine by me, then I guess I'll look like a beautiful pegasus once you teach me how to fly."_

" _Okay then, let us begin."_

 _After Robin finished his sentence, the sky turned from a light blue colour to a dark red and time seemed to stop. Robin didn't move, neither did the leaves that were falling from the tree after Robin's spell. Everything but Reflet stopped. "R-Robin? Are you okay."_

 _Then a loud laugh could be heard, Reflet started looking around but she couldn't see the source of the laugh. Suddenly, six big red eyes were staring at her. "You seem to be having fun with him aren't you?" The eyes disappeared and after that the ground started to shake. A rift began to separate the ground in two, each twin in one side, following the rift came an earthquake and lava started to pour out of the rift, but Robin was still frozen._

" _Robin! Robin!" Reflet desperately shouted to her brother trying to get a reaction from him. "Robin! Please... say something..." Seeing that her efforts were useless she began to cry. Suddenly, arms began to emerge from Robin's side, after the arms came the whole body. The figures that emerged from the ground looked almost human, 'almost' because their skin's colour was a greyish purple, it almost seemed like rotten flesh, their eyes were red and were glowing and each one of them had a weapon._

 _The figures were starting to approach Robin, but before Reflet could do anything, she turned back to see that she also was surrounded. She heard one of the creatures growl behind her and when she turned back again she saw the body of her brother on the ground with an axe stuck in his back._

 _The shock left her mind completely blank for five seconds, after she realised what she saw she threw up everything she had in her stomach, at some point she stopped because there wasn't anything more in her stomach. She didn't have time to stand up as she saw that the creatures behind her were now approaching her. She started to crawl back, but behind her there was only a pool of lava._

 _She thought of screaming for help, but she knew it was pointless, she knew she couldn't get of this, she knew she was going to join her brother soon... The ground beneath her began to crumble and she start to fall to the lava. Before losing consciousness she heard the laughter again, that dreadful laugh again..._

* * *

"Reflet! Reflet! Wake-up!" Chrom was trying to wake the tactician up, she was shaking and sweating and she was muttering words. Suddenly she got with a loud screech as she put her hands on her head. As she woke up waterfall of emotions began hitting her. Agony, pain, dread, sadness...

She was trying to recall what she had dreamt to feel these emotions but as much she tried she just couldn't. However she could remember how she felt during the nightmare. 'Why?... Why can't I remember anything from the nightmare? The pain, the sadness, everything felt so real yet I can't remember! WHY?!'

Reflet couldn't take it any more, she felt overwhelmed by this torrent of emotions and tears began streaming down her face. Chrom was on his knees next to her, asking himself what he should do. He wasn't good dealing with others people's emotions, but the tactician seemed like she was suffering, she woke up alone in a field without a clue of who she was, from where she was or if she had any family, and right now he was the only one for her. He remembered how his older sister would embrace him and Lissa whenever they were sad and how well It worked on him.

He wrapped the tactician in his arms and held her tightly while he patted her head gently in a comforting manner, she then began crying in his chest. "There there, don't worry anymore, it's over now..." She cried for a while and at some point she stopped, but she still held on Chrom tightly, she felt safe with him, she needed someone to make her feel safe after all the pain that nightmare gave her.

Chrom also didn't bother to free her from his embrace, instead he just began staring at her, at her silver hair, at her beautiful eyes... 'S-Stop it Chrom, now isn't the moment.'

"Wow, you two got quite close considering you just met this morning haven't you!" The two quickly separated themselves with a shade of pink on their faces, looking at the source of the voice. They just found Lissa, looking at them with a sly smile on her face and a finger resting on her chin. "You don't waste your time eh, Chrom?"

Chrom's face turned from pink to a deep red and put on a flustered face. "What?! B-but I didn't... I mean..." Reflet saw Lissa's face of amusement and looked at Chrom. She thought she could have some fun now that she was better.

"Chrom, I didn't know you were that kind of man, so you were just trying to take advantage of a poor weak amnesiac girl?" She hid her face with her hands hiding what now was a smile and pretended to be hurt and offended. Chrom was getting nervous and began muttering incomprehensible words.

Lissa couldn't take It anymore and began to laugh loudly, she wasn't expecting from Reflet to follow her game specially after how affected she looked from the nightmare, so seeing her playing along to embarrass her brother was something she was enjoying a lot. Reflet joined Lissa in the laughs shortly after she started. Chrom's face changed from confused and nervous to an annoyed one.

"What?! This is NOT funny at all! You really made me feel like a bad person!" Both women began controlling their laughter, wiping the tear that had formed in their eyes. "Sorry Chrom, I didn't mean to annoy you. And by the way, thanks for what you did, it really helped me, I appreciate it." She smiled to Chrom and his face changed from red to the pink shade he had before.'She really is beautiful.'

"Any time."

* * *

Reflet still felt tired after the nightmare so she went back to sleep while Chrom and Lissa decided to take a walk. Chrom woke up in the first place because he felt something was off and wanted to explore a bit, Lissa just went with him because she didn't want her brother to go alone.

First Chrom only had a gut feeling that something was off, however after walking for a while he was certain. 'It is darker than usual, and there aren't any animals around, not even a bird. Bad sign.' It seemed that Lissa also noticed. "Chrom, something is wrong here..."

Before she could continue the ground started shaking violently. Lissa quickly looked for her brother and held him tightly to avoid falling to the ground.

"Lissa, run! Now!" The siblings started running. A rift was beginning to form in the ground and lava started pouring out of it wildly, launching burned rocks towards the forest while both Chrom and Lissa started running and dodging the rocks. The earthquake stopped and the rocks had also stopped so they also decided to stop running. Lissa was resting her hands on her knees and was panting heavily given that she wasn't used to run. 'Maybe I shouldn't escape the training sessions. It's all Frederick's fault, if the sessions weren't so inhuman I would go sometimes'

Something caught the siblings attention. They looked at the sky and saw a blue light glowing, golden runs around it. Then the light transformed into what seemed like a portal, from this portal strange figures began to emerge and fell to the ground.

As they stood up, Lissa and Chrom took a look at the figures. All of them were equipped with weapons, they looked like humans, however their skin wasn't human, their skin colour was that of a greyish purple, they had glowing red eyes and a nasty purple smoke came out of their mouths. They stared at Chrom and Lissa and two of them began charging at them. Chrom drew his sword and prepared himself to fight.

His sword was one of the national treasures of the Halidom, Falchion, a sword made of the divine dragon's fang used by the hero-king himself to defeat the shadow dragon. So he had confidence in his sword.

The first of the creatures attacked with his axe but Chrom easily evaded the attack and striked back with a horizontal slash. The creature didn't seem to notice, as he spun his head like his neck was made of rubber and looked at Chrom, making another attack toward Chrom, which he parried. Both struggled for dominance, Chrom was stronger and he pushed away the axe with his sword, he quickly tackled the creature with his shoulder making it fall to the ground. He didn't lose a single second and he jumped towards the creature stabbing it in the back.

Instead of remaining there, the body turned into an ugly purple smoke after Chrom finished it.

"AahhhHH!" Chrom didn't have a second to rest as he heard his sister's cries. He turned to see her and saw the second creature in front of her, ready to bring his axe down while Lissa held her staff defensively. 'Shit! I won't make it in time.'

Lissa closed her eyes bracing herself for the blow, the creature brought it's axe down, but instead of meeting the cleric it found a metallic object. Lissa slowly opened her eyes to see why she was still alive, only to see a young man in front of her, with short blue hair and a butterfly themed mask. Chrom felt like his heart was beginning to beat at a normal rate again.

"Help!" The man called for Chrom and he instantly ran to aid the masked-man, his sword ready to finish the creature. As Chrom approached, the masked-man also readied himself to attack the creature. Both swordsmen landed a powerful slash at the creature, turning it to it's characteristic purple smoke, after that they both sheathed their swords, Chrom turned to the masked-man.

"Quite the entrance there, what's your name?"

"You may call me Marth."

"Marth? After the name of the Hero-King? Well, you certainly fight like one."

He wanted to keep asking questions to Marth, something about him really triggered his interest, but the sound of a warhorse galloping towards them interrupted him. Riding the horse was a familiar heavy knight and a white-haired tactician. Reflet got of the mount and Frederick quickly ran to Chrom and Lissa. "Milord! Milady! Are you hurt?" The siblings both shook their heads to assure their guard that they were alright. "No one is injured the? Thank the gods."

"Well, we have to thank Marth for that, he saved my life just a moment ago." Lissa then presented the man to the others. "Frederick, Reflet, this is Marth." Frederick eyed the man and thanked him. "Thank you for helping milady, I greatly appreciate it." The masked-man just nodded to the knight.

Reflet took a look at their surroundings with a worried face. "What has happened here? Is this common in Ylisse?" Chrom wanted to convince her that Ylisse was a safe land, otherwise, she might not join the Shephers, and giving the current situation with Plegia he needed all the help he could get.

"Not really, earthquakes aren't really common in Ylisse, and the only parts where sometimes there's an earthquake are pretty much inhabited" Chrom the looked in direction of the rift formed by the quake and saw the creatures again. "And those creatures aren't from Ylisse as well, at least it's the first time I've seen them."

"Eh? What creat-" She couldn't continue. Her eyes widened when she looked in the direction Chrom was looking. The creatures were awfully familiar, especially those glowing red eyes that were staring at her, some images began popping in her mind. These images belonged to the last moments of her recent nightmare. Her, alone, surrounded by those things and suddenly falling to the lava.

She fell on her knees all strenght leaving her and she started to sweat and shiver as if she was in the middle of a snowstorm. A feeling of fear she couldn't explain was beginning to take her. 'Why? What are those creatures? Why are they hunting me?'

Chrom saw the tactician having a bad moment and ran to help her, surprisingly, Marth was faster than he was since he was already with Reflet, and even if he was wearing a mask Chrom could see that he was worried. 'Perhaps he knows her? I'll have to ask later...'

"Lady Reflet! Lady Reflet! Please, snap out of it, I know you can. Don't let this foul creatures unsettle you, Chrom and the others need you, without you we can't pull this out. Please..."

Reflet just stared at Marth 'He's right, I need to help Chrom...' After Marth, Chrom came to Reflet and put a hand on her shoulder. "Reflet, are you okay? If you are not feeling good you can stay back with Lissa, I am sure that we three can pu-" Reflet stood up and smiled, stopping Chrom's words.

"Don't worry Chrom, I am fine now, thank you both. Marth, can you lend us a hand?" Marth nodded "Perfect then, let's wipe out this disgusting creatures as soon as possible then.

* * *

Reflet noticed that most of the enemies were fighters, so they would be relatively easy to deal with given that except for Lissa, everyone in the group knew how to use a sword decently. However she saw some archers and mercenaries, and those would be more troueblesome to deal with. Mercenaries usually were not as strong as fighters but they used to be faster, and Reflet was the only one who could land ranged attacks to try and deal with the archers before they would become a problem.

'Maybe we can use those abandoned forts to our benefit, we let them attack us and we prepare our defences. But if we stay on the defensive even if we are on those forts we might get overwhelmed by their numbers. If we had more people this would be substantially easier, preferably someone who could use lances to help with the mercenaries, or maybe someone who can land ranged attacks...'

She was still thinking when the sound of a horse coming at them could be heard. She looked at the direction of the sound and found a cavalier coming at them, the horse wasn't like Frederick's and the rider wasn't as heavy armoured as Frederick, she was wearing a red and white armour and she had red short hair, and by just looking at her fit arms anyone could easily know that she could fight most men in terms of strength.

"Captain Chrom! Wait! Why didn't ya wait for me back in Ylisstol? Who cares anymore, even if they are not Plegians I can still have fun. All right ash-faced freaks! Which one of ya wants to be the first to get my lance shoved up in his arse!?"

Following the cavalier came a man with a bow, he had long blueish silver hair and by what he wore he seemed like noble but unlike the majority of the nobles this one seemed prepared for any battle. He was panting heavily, no doubt because he was following the cavalier, he quickly regained his composure and moved closer to the cavalier, and knelt with one knee putting a hand on his chest and extending the other one.

"Life may be long, but attraction is fleeting! Would you leave me in your sweet dust? Leave war to the warriors, dear bird! A beauty such as you need wage only love." The cavalier looked at the archer with an annoyed face and after that ignored him.

"Sully! It's great that you came, why don't you and your new friend lend us a hand." He then pointed to Reflet. "Just listen to whatever orders Reflet gives you." Sully nodded without questioning.

"Sully! How divine! A starkly beautiful name, as befits its owner, truly." The noble insisted just to find Sully dismounting her steed and approaching him. He made a triumphant smile as the cavalier got closer, but that smile faded away quickly as Sully kicked strongly in his side returned to her steed. The man winced in pain and tried to follow her. "G-Godness, those shapely legs certainly can kick..."

"Shut it Ruffles, onwards! We have got shit to take care off."

"Ru-Ruffles? I am sorry milady, but my name is Virion, and I am the archest of archers, I am-"

"Didn't I tell ya to shut it! Come on!"

"W-wait please, wait for me milady."

Now the whole group was just waiting for Reflet's orders. "Okay then, there are two abandoned forts near us that we can us to our advantage, also the trees behind these forts can give us cover against them, so we'll wait for them to come, thanks to the addition of Sully and Virion if we are fast enough we won't get overwhelmed by them. Virion, I want you to hide between the trees and shoot to anything that approaches us, if you get in danger immediately escape until you get to one of the forts. Frederick, you won't have a fixed position, you may move between forts and kill the fighter with your sword, but the reason why I your position isn't fixed is because when you see their swordsmen I want you to impale immediately with your silver lance, also Lissa will be on your mount, like this if someone on the forts gets wounded Lissa can get there quickly. Sully, Marth, I want you to go to the eastern fort, mainly because on that side you might find more swordsmen and if Frederick can't be there in time, Sully's lance can give a slight advantage against their swords. Me and Chrom will go to the western fort, mainly because I see a couple of archers and if they attack I can retaliate with my magic. Are there any doubts? Good, let's go then."

* * *

They all got on their positions as the creatures began to approach them. The battle started with an arrow from Virion's bow that impacted critically in a fighter's head, turning him into smoke immediately. Despite his eloquent talking, the man had an excellent aim with his arrows.

Sully and Marth quickly arrived to the fort and prepared themselves as they saw their first enemies, two axemen and a mercenary. An arrow landed in the mercenary's shoulder, but it wasn't enough to kill him, Sully took advantage from the fact that the creature was still staggering from the blow caused by the arrow and quickly impaled him with her iron lance.

One axemen quickly approached the cavalier from behind while she was pulling the lance of the lance of the body as it turned to smoke and prepared his attack, but his attack was quickly deflected by Marth's sword. Sully quickly took notice and ran to aid the masked-man, she impaled the axeman axe-arm rendering it useless and giving Marth more than enough time to behead him.

Now in front of them stood the last fighter. Marth thrust towards the creature aiming at it's head, he parried the strike with his axe and raised it preparing an attack. As he lowered his arm to strike the fighter found the strike parried by the Sully, who was now wielding and iron sword, Marth quickly stabbed him in his chest and Sully beheaded him.

But there was no time to rest, in the moment they finished a new wave of enemies showed up, this time there was three axemen, a myrmidon and two mercenaries. This certainly didn't look good.

* * *

Four axemen and a mercenary had surrounded Chrom and Reflet, they were back to back each one holding up their swords ready to fight. The first of the axemen lunged towards Chrom and began throwing imprecise attacks towards Chrom, mostly horizontal slashes, the attacks weren't very precise but they had a lot of strength in them so maybe it was a better idea to dodge rather than parry even of he considered himself a strong man.

Chrom was dodging waiting for the opening but the mercenary came back up the fighter, the creature directed a slash towards Chrom's chest. Chrom realised that he couldn't dodge the attack so he parried it with his sword only to realise that he forgot about the fighter who didn't lose time and raised his axe preparing a strike. Chrom quickly repelled the mercenary's sword to focus on the fighter but as quickly as he parried the strike he remembered again the mercenary.

Chrom found the back up he needed when he found that Reflet had already took care of one of the axemen and was now focusing on the mercenary, taking some of Chrom's pressure of. Chrom decided that it was the moment to go on the offensive and began unleashing several attack towards the creature who was now trying to stop the bluenette's attacks as best as he could. Chrom saw an opening and slashed the fighter's right leg, the fighter stumbled and Chrom stabbed him in the chest turning the creature into smoke.

Reflet was trading blows with the mercenary when she heard a sound that was music to her ears. She heard the sound of a warhorse galloping towards them. Frederick quickly broke the circle were Chrom and Reflet were surrounded and impaled the mercenary's head with his silver lance, turning it into smoke before it could even touch the ground.

He switched weapons changing from his silver lance to his iron sword. Reflet noticed something hidind between some trees and she noticed an enemy archer. She quickly changed to her personal tome, now glowing in it's characteristic white light, Reflet was about to unleash the spell but the archer had already let loose of the string of his bow, the arrow stabbing Reflet's gut. She gritted her teeth trying to withstand the pain. "Lightning!"

Beams of light began falling over the archer, turning him into smoke immediately. 'I see, so light magic is effective against them.' Reflet saw that Chrom and Frederick had already taken care of the remaining axemen, Lissa was tending to small cuts on her brother when she noticed that Reflet's shirt had a red stain and an arrow sticking out of her.

"Reflet! Are you okay? Let me heal that." She went to the tactician and made her sit down, she carefully took the arrow out and grabbed her staff. The orb began to glow and Reflet's wound began to close, it still hurt a bit but at least the wound was closed. "Thanks for your help Lissa. Frederick, take her with you and go to check up first on Virion, and then both of you go to the eastern fort, after that come to us, and we will move forwards."

The knight nodded, as soon as Lissa got on the horse they quickly went to follow the orders. "Thanks for the help before, you really took some pressure of me at that moment. Here take my hand." Reflet took Chrom's hand.

"You're welcome. Guess what, I think I found some weakness to these creatures that could be exploited." She signalled to the white tome and they both grinned at the discovery. They saw that two mercenaries, a fighter and behind them an archer approached them. Chrom took his usual stance preparing himself. "Well then, why don't we put that discovery to practice."

* * *

Virion was alone between the trees, he noticed Chrom and Frederick fighting against three axemen and thought they could use some help. He took an arrow from his quiver and calmly prepared the arrow, he aimed cautiously trying not to hit his new comrades and held his breath. He let loose of the bow's string and the arrow flew towards one of the two fighters that the heavy knight was engaging. It landed on one of the fighter's hand and Frederick quickly took advantage of the blow ending the job.

He moved between the trees to check up on his dearest Sully's group. He didn't quite like what he saw, they were outnumbered and he knew that at the moment they engaged, they would get overwhelmed, so he prepared himself to lend whatever assistance he could give. He began the process that he has repeated countless times during his life. He drew a bow from his quiver and prepared himself. He aimed closely and began to hold his breath, suddenly he heard a sound coming from one of the bushes nearby, he quickly turned his head to check what the sound was, the last thing he needed was to engage someone on close combat.

In the instant he turned his head he saw a fighter with an axe already lowering his raised arm axe in hand. Virion leapt backwards instinctively trying to avoid the attack while shooting the arrow aiming the best way he could giving his circumstances. His movement was enough to save his life but he received a wide gash across his chest. Even if it wasn't deep, it still hurt like hell and was losing a considerable amount of blood.

He landed on the ground and tried to immediately get up but he saw that the creature had already closed the distance between them and was getting ready to land the finishing blow. He closed his eyes and let out a chuckle, if he knew he was going to die like this he would have preferred to at least die in his homeland, where he would have probably died if he hadn't fled. But that didn't matter any more.

The blow never came, Virion was so absorbed by his thought that he didn't notice a warhorse charging towards them and the heavy knight's lance going through the fighter's chest like it was butter while he was still galloping forwards. Only after Frederick impaled the axeman Virion noticed that he was still alive, it looks like it still wasn't his moment to leave this world.

Lissa leapt of Frederick's mount and proceeded to heal Virion. "Sir Frederick, if I may make a suggestion, aid Lady Sully and Sir Marth, I think they would appreciate your assistance." Frederick saw that the Sully and Marth were already engaging the creatures and without questioning the archer he moved he quickly charged forward.

Sully and Marth were trying to hold the creatures the best way the could but they were outnumbered, the axemen would attack first together and if the cavalier and the masked-man saw an opening, they couldn't exploit it because the swordsmen were fast enough to prevent that. All this resulting in the two warriors with small cuts all over them and the creatures still untouched.

One of the myrmidons was trying to sneak behind Marth, but Frederick was quick to come from behind the trees and didn't waste any time impaling the myrmidon like he had already done so many times during this skirmish. He quickly changed weapons and stood beside his comrades. "Let's finish this quickly so we can regroup with Lord Chrom."

Behind the trees, Lissa had already finished treating Virion. His wound had closed but his chest was bandaged. "That will do it, however I don't think you should interfere any more if there is no need to."

"Thank you for your fine treatment Lady Lissa, it was an honour to be healed by Ylisse's beautiful princess."

"Okay... If we are done, let's go with Frederick and the others."

* * *

Reflet's light beams striked the last axeman, finishing the last of the creatures of that they were facing. "We make a good team don't we? It's like we've been partners for a long time, don't you think so, Reflet?" The tactician only nodded and gave the bluenette a smile.

Suddenly, a figure came from the same place that the other creatures had come. This one was sure from the same kind of creatures, but this one was easily twice as big as the fighter that they were facing. It had long brown hair and wore what seemed to be a mask, but his glowing red eyes could still be seen. He seemed to be the leader, and seemed to be quite stronger than the rest of the creatures.

"Chrom! Look out, this one apart from a steel axe has a short axe, it's not as easy to parry or dodge like a hand axe, so unless I tell you otherwise stay close to me, the safest way to counter it would be by deflecting it with my wind magic."

The creature let out a loud roar and began charging. He drew his short axe and threw it against the tactician, she had already prepared her tome to counter the axe, but as it was getting close she noticed that a simple wind spell wouldn't do the trick, so she began focusing more energy on the spell. "Chrom, when I repel the axe quickly attack the leader form it's right side, I'll go left, and don't worry, I'll cover you with magic if needed." Chrom nodded and prepared Falchion.

"Elwind!" Out of her hand came a strong gust of wind and a sharp wind blade, upon hitting the axe Reflet was surprised to see that despite that she used a stronger spell than she thought necessary first, the axe didn't stop, it only slowed down until it ended up in the ground before reaching it's target.

Chrom quickly moved towards the creature, but it quickly noticed Chrom and altered it's trajectory, now going towards the bluenette. The creature had already prepared it's steel axe and quickly met Chrom's Falchion.

Chrom was surprised at the creature's strength, he was barely able to hold the creature having his two hands on his sword while the creature was holding the axe single-handedly. The creature took advantage of that and with it's other he landed a punch on Chrom's gut that sent him flying to the ground gasping for air.

The creature didn't lose time and began closing the distances, but it was quick enough to leap backwards when it noticed that beams of light descending from above and with that leap, the leader stared at the tactician and didn't move. The look that the creature was giving to the tactician sent shivers down her spine. The tactician looked to where Chrom was sent and saw him taking advantage of the creature's actions, as he was quietly approaching it from behind, but something else caught her interest.

In the place where her light spell had landed there was the mercenary's broken sword, it was glowing with a faint light similar to that of Reflet's spells. She quickly came up with an idea that could be very helpful.

Chrom then tried to stab the creature on it's back, but to his surprise he only managed to get the sword half an inch into the creature's flesh. Seeing that it was useless he tried with a horizontal slash, only to find that it wasn't very effective. The creature turned it's head and surprised Chrom with a low attack with his axe. Chrom tried to avoid the attack but he got a cut that went from the lower part of his thigh to his waist.

"Elwind!" A powerful gust of wind sent the creature a few feet away and Reflet quickly went to help Chrom. She applied a vulnerary to Chrom's wound. Even if it wasn't as effective as Lissa's staffs it would help stopping the bleeding for a while and Chrom would feel better. After she finished they both stood up and Reflet remembered her idea.

"Chrom listen, after the creature punched you I directed a spell towards him but he dodged it, after that I saw that the sword of the mercenary we fought was now broken, but the edge was glowing with a faint light. Chrom, your sword isn't an ordinary sword isn't it? Then maybe I can infuse it with my spell, and since it's a special sword it won't break."

"Reflet... That's a great idea! With that while you distract him with your magic I can ran to him and..." Before he managed to finish he noticed something flying towards him, he felt himself pushed and noticed a red liquid now stained his face. He blinked a couple of times to find Reflet lying in the ground wincing with a gash on her right shoulder and a short axe buried into the ground behind them.

Chrom was already on the tactician's side in less than a second and knelt to help her. "Reflet! Are you okay?" The tactician nodded as best as she could. Chrom took the vulnerary from Robin and applied it carefully. "This... won't be enough Chrom, we need something to stop the bleeding." Without thinking it twice Chrom took the end of his cape and tore it, then he took the piece of cloth and applied in it some vulnerary. He then pressed it on Reflet's shoulder, upon contacting her shoulder she bit her fist in order to try and ignore the pain. The cloth wasn't the best solution to stop the bleeding but at that point it was the best option.

They managed to stop the bleeding and quickly stood up to see the creature already close to them. As soon as they got up she quickly moved her hand close to Falchion and began focusing her magic onto the blade. She had to be careful and precise to infuse the blade with the necessary quantity of energy. The blade began to glow with a faint light, becoming stronger with each second.

"There you go, I think this will be enough. Chrom, I will try to slow him with my magic, you strike after that." He didn't have time to nod as Reflet began to prepare the spell. She already knew wich spell would to the job. Gears of light began forming around the creature.

"Shine!" The gears began closing on the monster and it barely dodged, before it could do anything else Chrom ran towards the creature and cut through it. Upon making contact with the monster, the light faded from the blade but the light made a reaction on it. After Chrom's attack the creature found itself missing an arm and a gash on it's side. Chrom smiled triumphantly and got closer to Reflet. "Come on, once more, we got this."

The creature let out a roar even louder than the first one. This roar startled both warriors, specially the tactician, that roar gave her a dreadful feeling. This feeling was confirmed when in front of the creature a lot of arms began sticking out of the ground. Chrom and Reflet couldn't believe it, they stared wide eyed as nearly fifteen creatures resembling the ones they fought before began appearing from the ground. They both fell to their knees acknowledging their helplessness before this situation.

'Is this it? Is it the end? I will die without knowing who I was. I wish I could if at least I had a family. Will there be someone who will cry my loss?' Suddenly something insider the tactician snapped. 'No. I refuse. I refuse to die like this. I refuse to die by this creatures! They won't stop me!'

Chrom began thinking on how sad Lissa and his older sister would be when they hear of his death. Suddenly he noticed that Reflet stood up, but now she looked somehow diferent, she had angered look on her face. Her crimson eyes were now glowing even strongly than the monster's eyes. Her tome began to glow with the already familiar light, but Reflet's right hand began to glow in a dark purple light.

As soon as the light came out of the tactician's hand the light of the tome shifted from it's pure light to the same corrupted purple, each second glowing more and more strong. A strong aura was beginning to form around Reflet's and weak purple flames were surrounding her right hand. She opened her hand aimed the palm of her hand towards the creatures.

" **I won't let you get in my way! Die, foul creatures! VALAURA!** "

As soon as Reflet said the name of the spell, a gargantuan orb of purple light began forming around the creatures, the moment Reflet closed her hand like she was squashing something with it the orb began to close on the creatures until it combusted the moment it touched them, causing an explosion.

Chrom just stared at the Reflet's actions and his jaw dropped when he noticed that after the explosion there wasn't a trace of any of the monsters. He then stood up to see Reflet. Her eyes weren't glowing any more and the purple light was gone, and without a warning she began falling forward, nearly unconscious, luckily, Chrom was there to hold her.

"Wow. That was amazing Reflet, I owe you a big one, you saved us both there. How did you do that."

Reflet wished she could answer but she was far to tired, it seemed that spell had drained all her magic, but there was something off with this spell, something that made her uncomfortable. Even if she was sure that this was a light magic spell there was something about it that made her uncomfortable. "I don't know, but don't expect me to use it too much. I certainly hope we won't need in the future." Chrom smiled and helped her lie on the ground so that she can rest a bit until the others get there.

* * *

"Milord! Are you hurt? Are there any creatures left?" The rest of the Shepherd got to were Chrom and Reflet were resting shortly after they finally took care of them. Frederick noticed the cut in Chrom's leg. "Milord! Your leg, don't tell me it was..." He glared at the tactician now sitting on the ground who clearly felt uncomfortable at the knight's accusations. Chrom noticed that and was quick to answer.

"I am fine Frederick, and if there is anyone to think for that, it is Reflet. Were it not for her now I would be dead. What about you, anything worth mentioning?"

"Not really, thankfully all injuries were treated by milady and Marth here proved to be a valuable ally."

Chrom then looked at the masked-man. He still had to thank him for saving Lissa. "Well, it seems that I have to thank you twice now. Thanks for saving my sister, and thanks for helping us today. By the way, you seem to be quite the swordsman, where did you learn your way with the sword?"

"I'm not here to talk about me. This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned." And with that he left.

"Wait!" Marth stopped looking for who was calling for him. It was the tactician, still sitting on the ground. "I've had memory loss recently and I don't remember anyone from my past life. Do you per any chance knew me?" Reflet asked hoping to see if her hunch was correct, Marth grit his teeth. "I am sorry, I am afraid it's the first time we have met." With that she left and disappeared behind the trees, Reflet looked at the ground with a disappointed look on her face.

"Don't worry Reflet, I am sure you will end up remembering. You can stay with us in Ylisstol until you Remember." The cleric tried to cheer up the tactician. Since they had found her she had been through a lot for just one day. "Really? I really don't want to be a burden to you." Lissa only smiled, Reflet felt her smile quite contagious and couldn't help but smile as well. "Yeah, I would be happy to have you with us. And I am sure Chrom would be very happy to, isn't that right, Chrom?"

Lissa looked at her brother with a sly smile on her face looking to upset him. "Uh... What? I mean... Yeah sure! I mean..." Chrom seemed to be struggling to find the words much to Lissa's amusement.

"Chrom, Lissa, thank you both. I will do everything I can to repay your kindness to me."

"You're welcome, now, if you will let me take a look at that gash please?"

* * *

Marth had already distanced from the group, she found a comfortable spot and sat there, leaning his back against a tree. Then he, or rather she, took the mask off. Thinking of what had happened today she grit her teeth.

'Damn! I thought I was ready. I wish I could go and hug them and never let them go, yet I have to stand aside, hiding from them in order to protect them.' Her blue eyes began to moist. 'When I saw her suffering like that, I couldn't help it, it was like before I lost them, she was suffering in the same way and I couldn't control myself, I had to comfort her like we always did. No one wonder she asked if I knew her!'

She rubbed her eyes and stood up. 'That was enough, I can't let myself get distracted, I need to focus on my goal. That, is the best way to protect them.' She then began walking north, towards her new destination.

* * *

Robin liked his room in Plegia. He felt like it was the only place where he could be safe. Safe from that bastard Gangrel, safe from his annoying older sister, and most importantly, safe from the person he hated the most of this world. The man who gave him and his sister their curse, the man that he once used to call his father.

Even if Robin was Plegia's Grandmaster, second only to the king in issues involving the army, he didn't like to live in luxury. His room was certainly big but was decorated simply, he didn't like to show off, however, as much as he considered himself modest in this regard, there were some places were he certainly didn't skimp on.

His great desk, made specially for him with the finest woods with his comfortable chair, all designed to make all the paperwork he faced everyday more manageable. His big comfy bed, the one that Tharja many times had said that she wanted to try how good it was with Robin. His great bookshelves keeping all sorts of valuable books, books that he liked too much to just leave them in the Royal Library or in the library in his father's temple. His personal bathrom with a bathtub always ready in case he wanted a bath.

All these were proof of that, proof the he valued comfort but he didn't care about appearances. He still had to find a suitable place in his room for one who his favourite possessions, his sword, a sword that was much larger than most of the swords that normal people could wield, but also was much heavier than most sword to the point that Robin couldn't wield it single-handedly like he did with swords, the shape of the sword was unique, and at the same time terrifying. It seemed like it was designed just so it's enemies would fear it. But Robin still didn't manage to find a place in his room that suited it.

So Robin had to keep it in the relax room, besides, sometimes it was useful to have it there. The look of fear that the unlucky idiots who entered that room gave him when they saw the sword was priceless to Robin. But he didn't he didn't like to use it, by using it he wouldn't feel as satisfied that if he used his bare hands or his dark magic.

To use his dear sword on them would be like forgiving them. To free them from the pain he was about to make them suffer was like forgiving them for what they had done to him and his sister. But he knew that no matter how much he made them suffer, he knew that no matter how much he made them suffer under his hands, they wouldn't suffer as much as he had.

However, today he just didn't want to think in those scum. He spent all day preparing plans to liberate his homeland from Gangrel. Her sister would probably get to Ylisse tomorrow so she could do what she had to. The Exalt believed in the siblings even after knowing Robin's position, so Reflet letting her know of a plot on her life and warn them of an imminent attack on their borders as soon as Gangrel had the occasion to start the war the least they could do.

Even if it was not to late he had some preparations to make tomorrow, so he decided to go to sleep. But just as he was heading to bed someone knocked at the door of his room. "Milord, may I come in?"

Outside the door was one of the men that Robin trusted the most. He knew almost everything about Robin's past, but even if he didn't knew everything, he knew about him enough to the point that Robin would understand if he decided to not keep serving him, but he remained with him, and for that, Robin saw him as a valuable comrade. "Yes Mustafa, you can come in."

A tall, well-built, bald, dark-skinned man came in. He had a thick beard and a notorious scar in his face. "So, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to ask you something milord."

"Sure, feel free to ask."

"Why don't you overthrow Gangrel by simply starting a rebellion milord? This mad man will drive our country to the ruin. I am sure you would find enough support in the army milord. All soldiers respect you, and not all of them share Gangrel's hatred towards Ylisse. You are the honourable leader that these type of soldiers need, a leader they respect, a leader to look after to, a leader to who they would give their life if necessary. You are the only reason some of them haven't deserted yet."

Robin sighed deeply, he had already thought of starting a rebellion, however... "Mustafa, let me tell you why this isn't the best idea at given the circumstances we are in. Say, you do know the reason why I still accept orders from this idiot don't you? Well, in my case I can let myself be a bit rebellious sometimes because of my position, but tell me Mustafa, If one of the commanders that are still in the army because of Gangrel's threats towards their family rebel, Gangrel wouldn't hesitate in killing them, and I don't want that. Besides, a civil war is the last thing Plegia needs now, and there are a lot of conscripts in the army that I don't want involved, most of these are young men Mustafa, always remember that a nation's youth is it's future, if they die there will be no future for Plegia."

The bearded man sighed deeply, Robin was right, every point he made was sound. "Mustafa, at least if I keep my position, I can have things somewhat in control and minimize the damages that may come form Gangrel's stupidity. Don't worry Mustafa, just have faith, I'll do whatever I can to get both nations through this. Who knows when we'll need our countries united against the same menace."

"I see, you believe Walhart may pose a threat in the future. Well, I have absolute faith in you milord. You were about to go to sleep, weren't you milord?" Robin smiled and nodded. "In that case I shall take my leave milord."

"Okay Mustafa, take care." With that the berserker exited the room, leaving Robin alone again. He removed his cloak, folded it and put it on a chair beside his bed, he also removed his gloves and boot, and proceeded to change his shirt and trousers for just simple black baggy trousers that he found more comfortable to sleep with, he preferred his upper body naked.

At the moment he finished a feeling of dread began invading him. He looked at his right hand and saw his cursed mark glowing with a dark purple light that he knew too well, the mark looked like it was calling him. Suddenly a deep pain hit his head and he began to fell like each part of his body was hit by a thousand needles, he felt like his hand was burning, later he felt the same in his eyes, droplets of blood began falling from his eyes like tears, as he could do nothing but bring his hands to his temples to try to make at least the pain in his head more bearable and try to scream. He didn't know if he managed to scream because he just couldn't hear anything.

Tharja was happy, she was heading towards Robin's room with a tray of food, she had baked Robin's favourite, liver and eel pie. Thanks to all the time she had been spying on Robin, she knew that today he would go to sleep a bit earlier than usual, so if her estimations were right now, he would be only in his black trousers, so Tharja would not only be pleasuring the love of her life with his favorite food, Tharja would be able to enjoy the sight of Robin's body.

As she approached Robin's room she could hear what was without any doubt Robin's screams. She fastened her pace and when she reached his room his screams had stopped, she quickly opened the door and her eyes widened. The Grandmaster was on his knees, panting heavily and his body drenched in sweat and his faced looked like he had just cried blood.

Tharja left the tray aside and quickly went to check on him, when she reached him she noticed that the mark on Robin's right hand was glowing faintly.

"Robin, did this had something to do with G-"

"No... Impossible... It couldn't... He still hasn't been resurrected... How, could he get in my mind... It's simply, impossible..."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **In case someone is curious and hasn't played Radiant Dawn, I have to say that Reflet's attack was light magic, she can't use dark magic despite having Grima's blood because she wasn't trained too. If she trained with it she would learn it fast because Grima's blood but she simply didn't train it. The master of dark magic will be Plegia's Grandmaster as I am sure most of you have already guessed.**

 **Well, regarding Robin's pairings, I still accept suggestions but the candidates are almost clear to me by now.**

 **As I said in the previous ending AN, some children will have different parents than the pairings that I will end up having, and that may include female Morgan, so would like to ask your opinion on something. What is in your opinion the most interesting mother future Morgan can have? I think I can make an interesting sub-plot with this.**

 **Also I would like to ask for advice in one thing. I don't know how to write well characters like Sully, Donnel or Basilio, and maybe I will have to refrain myself from using them as much as I would like due to this matter, so what would you recommend in order to improve in this case?**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: Well, it's been a while. The reasons because it took me so much are pretty basic. Some FE: Fates (not much though), Smash Bros (gotta train Lucas) and last but not least, university. I swear Econometrics and Microeconomics are gonna be my death. Also one of the problems I faced when writing this is actually my english. I don't consider my english 'bad', but I think my writing is a bit simple, hopefully my english will improve as I write this fic.**

 **I also have problems writing some characters like the ones mentioned in the previous AN. Also Special thanks to Draen for mentioning a fic that I think will actually help me in learning to write these characters. Despite that fic being one of my favourites I never thought of it to help me, I am learning some expressions that hopefully will come in handy.**

 **BTW, I also checked the first two chapters for errors and I found a lot, I have already corrected them but I am sure there are still some errors, I will check them again when I can with this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 2:

 _In one Ylisstol's main streets_

Later after Lissa had treated Reflet, they decided it was best to continue to Ylisstol to inform of the new threat and to know if similar incidents have been reported. Reflet rode with Sully and Virion with Frederick until they arrived to Ylisstol, where they said that they could continue on their own.

Given that Virion was recruited as a Shepherd -much to Sully's dismay- Sully was ordered to take him to the garrison to formalise the recruitment. After all, even if he was a philander, they had to admit that he had skill with the bow.

Reflet was astonished, she could imagine that the capital would be crowded but not that much. The streets were full of people, each going their way and doing their daily activities, either completing their daily errands or just simple shopping.

The best part was that it seemed like the incidents of the forest didn't reach the Ylisstol, and hopefully, not other parts of the country. They noticed a huge mass of people accumulating in one of the main streets. They then hear an old man from the mass of people. "Look! The Exalt came has come to see us!"

They made their way through the crowd to see the Exalt. The woman was beautiful and her smile transmitted peace. Her hair colour was the same as Lissa's and in her forehead she had the same mark Chrom had. She dismissed it as a funny coincidence. Also she noticed that she wasn't very heavily guarded, just a few pegasus knights were watching over her.

"So that's Lady Emmeryn? Is it safe for her to just walk in the street with only a few guards?"

"The exalt is a symbol of peace, Ylisse's most prized quality. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. When all hope seemed lost, the first exalt joined forces with Naga, the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought for then."

"With Plegia poking at our borders recently and the heavy militarization they had since the last war with Ylisse the people need her. Was it not for her a war would have started long ago."

Reflet's now admired the Exalt, not only she seemed a kind ruler, she actually was one. It was a shame that other nations seemed to take advantage of that. "It seems the Ylisseans are lucky to have her."

"And she is also the best big sister anyone could ask for." Lissa said with her usual cheerful tone and her contagious smile.

"Yes, I imagine she... Wait..." Reflet then focused on the Exalt's hair colour and switched her look to Lissa's hair, she repeated the same action three or four times. "No..." Now it was time to focus in the mark on her forehead, she switched her attention to Chrom's mark, then back at the Exalt's, she also repeated this action three times. "Your... so that means you and Lissa are..."

Chrom and Lissa found the situation amusing and just smiled, but Frederick still didn't fully trust the tactician and looked at her sceptically. "The prince and the princess of Ylisse? Yes, you remember milord's name and not this?"

"But you said you were Shepherds, you said you were just leader of a small militia!"

"And we are, we just have a lot of 'sheep' to tend to."

"C-Chrom, I mean Prince Chrom! Sire! Forgive my dreadful manners." She tried to bow awkwardly trying to right her mistake.

He gave her an amused chuckle. "Just Chrom will be fine, I'm not much for formalities."

Reflet now saw it clear, why would someone like Chrom and Lissa had a guard like Frederick if they weren't important. Frederick's armour, silver lance and mount were nothing that common soldiers or bodyguards had. Now not only that was explained, but also few other things. "So, the prince and the princess... Now that explains why Frederick tolerates all that teasing..."

She knew her guess was correct when she saw Frederick sighing deeply. "Indeed... Oh, the sacrifices I make for the good of Ylisse..."

The siblings just laughed at Frederick's statement. "Looks like Emm is already returning to palace. Reflet, would you like to met her?"

Reflet was about to reject Chrom's invitation, but when the prince finished she instantly noticed that Frederick was about to object. She did understand the knight's position, but it was beginning to become somewhat annoying so she decided that it was better to annoy the knight a bit instead of getting annoyed.

"I would be honoured." She replied fast with a grin on her face, interrupting what the heavy knight was about to say.

* * *

Even if a royal palace is expected to be big, Reflet couldn't believe how big it was from the inside comparing what she imagined when she saw the palace from the streets of Ylisstol.

She also made a note on her mind to visit the Royal Library, maybe she would find books filled with tactics of past wars. The palace's size made the trip to the throne room a bit longer than she expected, and in this trip Reflet noticed something really interesting, almost ALL maids and Pegasus Knights had something in common.

She had spent the walk to the throne room talking and laughing with Chrom and whenever the maids and the Pegasus Knights saw Chrom coming they would all put on dreamy faces and start to blush, and at the moment they saw Reflet, a mysterious woman that nobody knew, talking so light-heartedly to their Prince, she began to receive glares from all sides. Reflet knew already what was happening and she could only but think two things.

'Why don't they make a move on Chrom? If they have time to look at him with dreamy eyes and then glare at me they also have time to try and make a move on Chrom.'

They now passed through another Pegasus Knights training ground and she noticed this time a specific red-haired Pegasus knight that was so fixed on Chrom that she didn't even glare at Reflet like the others did.

With that, the second thought came to her mind. 'How the hell Chrom doesn't notice! Either he's a heart breaker, notices it and enjoys it; or he is just dense as fuck.'

They had finally arrived to the throne room, which was just as impressive as the rest of the castle. Inside the Exalt was waiting for them and next to her, a woman that seemed to be the captain of the Pegasus Knights. "Chrom! Lissa! Welcome home. Oh, and good day, Frederick. How fared you all?"

Lissa quickly ran to her sister and threw herself at her, enveloping her in a tight hug that she quickly returned. After they got separated Chrom just gave Emmeryn a short hug. "Well, I think we won't have any bandits problems for a while."

"Wonderful, and what about our people." Chrom just sighed, even if they took care of the bandits he knew that the situation wasn't perfect. "As safe as they can be. But we still need to watch the border with Plegia. The bandits came from there."

The Pegasus Knights took a step forward. "Forgive milord, my Pegasus Knights should have intercepted them."

"No Phila, your duty is here, with the Exalt."

"And besides, we had plenty of help there!"

"Ah, you speak of your new companion here?" The Exalt then took a look at the tactician. Her eyes widened in surprise after seeing her. Her hair colour, her eyes, her cloak, her facial features... They seemed familiar to her.

Chrom then introduced Reflet to the Exalt. "This is Reflet, she fought bravely with us against the brigands and I decided to invite her to the Shepherds."

"It seems as though Ylisse owes you a debt of gratitude Reflet." Emmeryn smiled at Reflet. If anyone other had said that sentence Reflet would have thought that they were just being formal, but coming from Emmeryn she knew that she really meant it and that here words were sincere. "Not at all Milady."

"Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must speak. Reflet claims that she has lost her memories, but it is just that, a claim, we can't rule the possibility of her being a spy for the Mad King, or even worse, a Grimleal spy." Frederick the Wary strikes again.

"Frederick!" Emmeryn raised her hand to calm down her brother. 'So memory loss huh? I will talk to her later, maybe she made it up to not raise suspicions.' "Yet you allowed her to the castle. Chrom, does she have your trust."

Chrom had no doubts about his answer. "Yes, definitely. She risked her life fighting for the lives of Ylisseans and for me that is enough."

"Well then, it seems you have earned Chrom's faith, and as such you have earned mine." Reflet bowed a little in sign of respect. "Thank you, milady."

"But thank you Frederick, for your prudence, as always. Chrom and Lissa are blessed to have such a tireless guardian. I do hope they remember to mention that from time to time..."

Frederick just sighed. "They occasionally express something akin to gratitude." Frederick now put his serious face again to talk about more serious matters. "Your Grace, Phila. I assume you have heard of the deathly creatures we encountered."

Both of them nodded and Phila took a step forward. "Yes, milord. They have been sighted across all Ylisse, but in small numbers. Nothing that we can not take care of."

"We were about to hold council, I was hoping you could join us Chrom."

"Of course Sis." And with that, the Exalt and her guardian began heading towards where the council was to be held and Chrom and Frederick followed.

"I think that's our cue Reflet!" She took her hand and began to drag her. "Come on, there's a place I want to show you."

* * *

Lissa and Reflet entered a small building. It was very simple, it had some tables and becnehs to have meals probably, some couches that looked comfortable, a nice fireplace, some crates filled with weapons here and there, some rooms that Reflet assumed were an armoury, a kitchen and these kind of rooms, there were also stairs leading to what probably were the personal rooms of the Shepherds who lived there.

Inside there wasn't a lot of people, from this people she could only recognize Virion, who was having some tea; and Sully, who was just polishing her lance A part from him there was a shirtless guy doing push-ups, and two girls, one of them seemed to be a Pegasus Knight and the other was a blonde girl that seemed to be a noble from the way she dressed.

Reflet found it odd that the two were doing the same, walk over the room with anxious looks on their faces. Lissa turned to Reflet and released her sleeve. "Here we are! The Shepherds Garrison. Go on, make yourself at home, I'll show you your room later."

One of the two women, the noble, instantly turned her head towards Lissa after she noticed her and ran towards the princess. "Lissa my treasure! Are you all right? I have been on pins and needles!"

"Oh, hey, Maribelle!"

"Oh hey you! I've sprouted fourteen grey hairs fretting over you!" Maribelle began showing Lissa her hair and surprisingly, what she said was true. She showed Lissa the fourteen hairs she was talking about.

"You worry to much Maribelle, I can handle a battle or two." Now she changed from a smile to a not so happy face. "Although I could do without the bugs and the bear barbecues."

The blonde shirtless guy stopped his push-ups and stood up. "Hey, Squirt! Where's Chrom? I bet he had a rough time out there without ol' Teach and his trusty axe!" The man had a convinced grin on his face, he sure was full of himself if he spoke of him in third person.

"Oh, so you're Teach now, Vaike? And here I thought people were just born lacking wits. Can it be taught?" To Relfet's surprise, Vaike didn't seem offended, instead, he put his right fist on his chest with pride. "Ha! Never doubt The Vaike... Wait, was that an insult?" Reflet now understood why he didn't look offended at first and then she and Lissa laughed.

The woman that seemed to be a Pegasus knight now approached them still with the concerned look on her face. "Beg pardon, but when we might see captain?" 'Of course. Why am I not surprised?' That's all Reflet could think.

"Poor Sumia. She's simply been beside herself with concern. Her eyes were scanning the horizon all day during training. She might have earned fewer bruises fighting blindfolded."

"Aw, Sumia, that's so sweet of you to worry about my brother."

Sumia just blushed and looked down to the floor playing with her thumbs. "Worry? Well... I... He's our captain and our prince, of course I'd worry!"

After that the Vaike stared at Reflet rubbing his chin. "So, who's the newcomer? Did Chrom finally found a girlfriend? I can see why he'd bring her, she's quite the looker ain't she? I guess what they say 'bout Plegian chicks is true. Teach can't understand why Chrom didn't tell his pal nothing 'bout it though."

Sumia let out a gasp and both her face and Reflet's reddened from Vaike's words. 'What's with the people in here? First the people in the castle now this guy?' Lissa just giggled. "Allow me to introduce Reflet. She's our latest addition to the Shepherds, Chrom has decided to make her our tactician."

Everyone in the room had surprised looks on their faces. The role of the tactician wasn't an easy one, it held a lot of responsibility, and here Chrom was, giving the that role to a woman that no one knew about and that they had met yesterday. Virion, Sully and Lissa weren't surprised, they had seen Reflet and they knew she was more than capable.

"Hehe, you should see all the tricks she can pull up her sleeve. Unlike the majority of the tacticians, she goes onto the battlefield, and despite having amnesia, she can use both swords and magic, and also some weird light magic I had never seen before."

It seemed that Lissa's last statement caught Maribelle's attention. "Well, given the current relations between Ylisse and Plegia, a war is not impossible. And if a war may fall upon us, a tactician that could guide us from the battlefield itself is the least we should have if we were to face Plegia's Grandmaster."

This time it was Virion whose attention was caught. "When he came to Themis to discuss political matters with my father he told me that Plegia's Grandmaster was a fine man. But it has been proved that my father was wrong in his judgement given Plegia's actions."

"Let us not rush to such conclusions milady." The looks were now on Virion, who hadn't said anything until that point. "We may need to consider the fact that he may have his reasons to work with Gangrel, reasons that may be unknown to us. Besides, we don't know to which degree he is involved in Plegia's wrongdoings."

Reflet was a bit lost because of her amnesia, so why not ask and get some information that could be useful. "Excuse me, but who is this Grandmaster you are talking about?"

Lissa was the one that decided to clear Reflet's doubts. "He is the man in charge of the Plegian army, the only one above him in the whole country is the king and the Grimleal's Hierophant."

Maribelle nodded and continued where Lissa left. "It is said that he is the strongest man in all Plegia, and probably all our continent thanks to his proficient swordsmanship, magic and tactical knowledge. He is highly respected by both Plegain nobility and people, it is even said that he has power in the Grimleal."

"Besides, I think he was appointed Grandmaster five years ago when he was just fourteen years old." Lissa was pretty sure that she and Maribelle hadn't forgotten anything, and when she turned to see Reflet's face, she found a look full of excitement on her and a smirk on her face.

"I see... A man to be feared as an enemy for sure. I hope I can meet him someday." Swords, magic and tactics? That was awfully familiar, she had to meet this guy.

"Oh yeah?" Vaike didn't like all the attention that this guy was getting. "Can he do this?" His chest swelled and he arched his back a little bit, after that he belched loudly to the point that even with her amnesia, Reflet could already bet that she had never heard someone belch so loud. Following the loud sound came an unpleasant stench of ale.

Everybody in the room had unpleasant looks on their faces except for Vaike, who had a smirk on his face.

"Disgusting..." Virion muttered to himself and took a sip form his tea.

"Ewww, Vaike! That was gross!" Unlike Virion, Lissa was not so subtle in showing what she felt, however she wasn't the only one to show it.

"Ugh, Vaike! That was abhorrent beyond belief! Must you baseborn oafs pollute everything with your buffoonery!? Even the air!?" With that, Maribelle left the garrison.

At that moment, nobody knew how to act, the atmosphere was bit tense but thankfully just as Maribelle left Chrom entered the garrison. The first one who noticed it was Sumia. "Ah! Captain, you've returned? I was so wo- I mean, we were all so wo..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because as soon as she tried to approach him she tripped on her own and fell on her face in a way that even Reflet felt the pain just from watching, everything stopped for three seconds and then Chrom went to help her get on her feet while she slowly stood up and cleaned the dust from her skirt awkwardly.

"Sumia! Are you all right? The boots again?"

"Eh? Oh yeah! The boots..."

"Ok, listen everyone, probably in a couple of days or so we will be marching to Regna Ferox. Before you ask Reflet, as I am sure you don't recall anything about Ferox, it's a country with borders with the north of Ylisse." Reflet nodding, thanking the man for taking into account her current state.

"Some say they are barbarians, but I think warriors is a word that suits them better. Our mission is to ask for reinforcements to help Ylisse face it's current threats. Now, this mission is strictly voluntary so if anyo-"

"Count me in!" Lissa interrupted her brother with her usual cheerful demeanor.

"I'm in too! Ya can't ditch ol' Teach like ya did yesterday and hog all the fun."

"I suppose I'll come to, I assume it is for these kind of things that you needed a tactician."

After all of the present Shepherds confirmed their intention to go -Reflet could even swear that she heard an extra voice that didn't seem to belong to anyone in the room but she paid no mind to that- Sumia took a step forward with an unsure look on her face.

She still hadn't confirmed her assistance and was muttering things that probably only herself was able to understand. "I...I don't know if I should go, I still think I am not ready enough, and I definitely wouldn't want to go just to get in the way..."

At that point what the Pegasus knight in training needed was a boost in her self-confidence, Reflet went to her and put her hands on Sumia's shoulders and with a smile on her face she tried to ease her worries.

"Don't worry Sumia, if we end up in a battle you can just stay back and watch, there are many things you can learn just by watching. And if you feel confident enough even join us in the battle, after all certain things can only be learned on the battlefield, and I am sure you'll be more useful than what you think."

"W-well, if you think it wise i'll come too."

* * *

Reflet found quick friends in Lissa and Sumia, she felt welcomed with them and she enjoyed her time around them. It turned out that Sumia still wasn't fully a Pegasus Knight, she was still in training, but she was still a member of the Shepherds.

It also turned out that most of the members had jobs and things to occupy their time with, for example Frederick, Sully, or Sumia who was in training for the Pegasus Knights or a boy that was at the Ylissean magic academy at the moment but was still a member of the Shepherds.

Lissa and Sumia took Reflet out for a walk to show her some interesting places in Ylisstol and get her to know the city a little bit. Aside from the book stores -which Reflet said to herself that she would revisit as soon as she got her first wage- what she liked most about the city was the enormous amount of cake shops that infested the city.

She assumed that she was a great fan of all kinds of pastries, because she couldn't help but stop outside every cake shop and watch what kind of pastries were showcased.

When they came back to the garrison something in one of the tables caught Reflet's attention. A chessboard, and around it were Virion and a young boy who seemed to be a mage given his robes and pointed hat, he seemed of Lissa's age if not less and it also seemed that he was the one being dominated by Virion in the game.

With a smirk Virion announced checkmate and the young mage could only sigh at his defeat. Reflet was sure that she had played before even if she didn't remember because a lot of strategies would come at her mind just by watching the chessboard.

"Virion, would you mind a game of chess with me?"

"Of course my dear tactician." Both set their own pieces and Virion made the first move.

Reflet was stunned, each time she would try to execute a strategy the silver-haired noble would read her intentions and nullify her strategies like he knew what Reflet was going to do or react at each moment. And eventually...

"Checkmate." Reflet's jaw dropped. She was supposed to be the tactician! How did this skirt chaser actually beat her? How did he manage to be always ahead of her? "I can't believe it..." She muttered to herself.

"I see that my fine skill in the game of chess surprised, Lady Reflet." He had a triumphant smirk on his face.

"How did you know everything I was going to do? Each time I thought I had you, you didn't only come with a way to stop me, but also with a strategy to counter mine."

"Milady, back in my homeland, I faced the most brilliant players in thrilling battles, it is no wonder that I posses enough knowledge to surpass your strategies."

'But fortunately, it was thanks to him that I knew every move you would do. Your strategies are really similar...' "However, don not let this defeat ever make you doubt your skill in chess or tactics my dear Reflet, little people have managed to last that long against me."

Yes, of course, there was no need to doubt her skill, hopefully the next time they played she would adapt more and best Virion.

"Well, if you don't mind i'll be taking my leave Virion. Will you honour me with another match some other time?" With that, she stood ready to leave. "Of course, milady."

She already had decided the place where she wanted to go now. In fact, she wanted to go since the moment they got to the palace, the Royal Library.

There she would be able to find all kind of interesting books that she could take with her, with the to her new room in the garrison and keep herself entertained the rest of the day

When the tactician left Virion took a sip from his cup of tea and stared at the door the tactician exited. 'My my... It seems you forgot to tell me how beautiful your sister is in your visit.'

* * *

The Royal Library was, to Reflet's delight, amazing. It had everything. She could find all kinds of novels, history books, war records, books on magic, even books for children or simple things like gardening or cooking, it had everything.

She began to wander around the library, checking all the bookshelves not being able to decide what book to chose. After wandering for a good half an hour she finally found a couple of books that caught her attention, they both had in common one thing. Jugdral.

One book was full of records on the wars that happened during the years 757 until 778 of the Jugdralean calendar, and the other book was a novelization of these events. She assumed she already was interested in the history of the world since she already knew a lot.

About the stories of the Hero-King Marth, the stories of the Twelve Crusaders, about the Alm's exploits by unifying Zofia and Rigel...

In the depths of her mind, she found it curious. It was as if she only lost memories related to her personal life or recent events, it was something too specific to be a simple case of amnesia. How could she remember everything about these old wars and not know her name or what was Plegia or Ylisse?

She decided it was best not to think about it now, she would wait, and if the memories didn't return in some time she would actively try taking care of it.

She found a perfect spot to begin the reading session and she quickly immersed herself in the world of Jugdral. The book with the war records contained useful information that could bolster her tactical knowledge, but what really absorbed Reflet's attention was the novelization of those wars.

She just finished reading through Sigurd and Deirdre first meeting when she noticed someone sitting in front of her. She lifted her look to the person and she found the Exalt herself with her usual reassuring smile. "Your Grace." Reflet greeted the Exalt bowing her head slightly in a respectful manner.

"Quite an interesting choice of books you have there Lady Reflet. And please, there is no need for formalities between us. Despite having met you for a short time, Chrom and Lissa already see you as a close friend, and I also wish to do so."

"Oh, as you wish, Your G- Emmeryn."

"See, that is better. So Reflet, would you mind if we had a little talk?"

"Of course I don't mind."

"So I have heard that you suffer from amnesia, is that correct?" Reflet only nodded. "I see... Is everything gone? You don't recall anything at all?"

The tactician put a hand on her chin as she began to think for the answer. "Well, most of my knowledge is still intact, however, all my memories and everything that seems to do with our time seems to be gone, it's all very strange."

"This is slightly concerns me, it seems too much of a coincidence that I lost all memories on my personal life, or knowledge concerning the events of everything related to Ylisse." She stopped her ramble since she remembered she wasn't asked that much. "Uh, I am sorry Emmeryn, I didn't mean to bore you with my speech."

"Not at all, I also find it quite odd in the least. Would you allow me to shed some light concerning the events of the past few years between Ylisse and Plegia in that case?"

"Of course, the minimum I can do is to be well informed about what led to the current situation."

"Fine then. Since the creation of both Ylisse and Plegia both countries had problems with each other. Most of the tension came because of religious reasons, since people in Ylisse worship Naga and people in Plegia worship Grima. But what led to the problems we have today is because my father, the previous Exalt, started a war to 'free the world' from what he called 'infidels', and that war didn't stop until he died."

"What? But why, just like that? Wasn't there any incident that caused your father to start the war?"

"Not that I know about. He completely changed after our mother's death, he never got over her death. But I can't see how that made him take that decision. And I think I will never know what caused his change. The war left Plegia very weak and a lot of people suffered because of my father's actions, but that war also left Ylisse aching. Both countries are still suffering the consequences of the war, that's why we must seek peace between our countries, it's the only way."

"Well, it seems that Plegia sees it the other way around."

"Even if their King still thinks that justice hasn't been served, I am sure there are people in Plegia who are tired of war and also want peace. If we manage to get King Gangrel to see it, we can avoid any unnecessary bloodshed."

What now Reflet couldn't believe is how someone like Emmeryn could be related to someone like her father, right now she also felt more admiration towards the Exalt. Other rulers would have probably already began a war if some other country was poking their borders the way their neighbours were doing, but Emmeryn was still trying to reach peace with Plegia because she knows it's the best solution for everyone.

"I see. And since you have treated me so well since you met me I will do everything I can to help you with your goals Emmeryn."

The Exalt stood and smiled at the tactician. "Thank you so much Reflet, if you don't mind i'll be taking my leave now. Oh, and I hope my brother doesn't give you much trouble."

Both women giggled and smiled at each other and after that, the Exalt left the tactician to her reading again.

* * *

 _Somewhere on Plegia's capital_

Robin slept awfully that night, when he woke up he didn't feel his eyes burning like he had felt yesterday after the events, but his head still felt worse than the first time he had a hangover when he went to have some drinks with Gaius for the first time.

Even though he still preferred to release all the pent up stress with his father's priests, going with Gaius was still an effective method, and a much more clean one. The people in the pubs and taverns that he used to frequent were nice and he also enjoyed his time with them.

The bad part aside from the hangovers came when he had to get back to the his room. When he was drunk the trip to his room suddenly felt like a maze, he would get lost in the hallways of the temple and he probably wouldn't get there were it not for Tharja, who seemed to know exactly when he would come back.

The grimleal temple in the Plegian capital were Robin lived was neither the biggest or the most important -both honours went to the Dragon's Table where his father usually lived- but it was big enough to house one of his most trusted companions.

Before exiting his room to see her, he took a pouch filled with golden coins and slid it in one of his cloak's inner pockets. He also checked his personal tome, flipping over it's pages and checking all of his spells, from the most basic ones to the most powerful ones.

No matter how many times he would check his tome, each time he saw the most powerful spells -specially the most powerful dark magic spells- a chill would would run through his spine.

To know that with his own hands he could cause a lot of destruction just by chanting one of the many powerful spells, that some spells were so powerful that not even him could cast them without the spell taking it's toll on him, sometimes made him fear himself.

He also put his tome in another of the cloak's pockets and headed towards his destination. In one of the hallways he found a white-haired woman waiting for him, she was dressed in a rather revealing outfit and stockings, high heeled boots and she had tan skin, she carried with her a tome.

Neither of them was happy to see each other -the woman seemed specially annoyed to see Robin even though it seemed that she was waiting for him- but they didn't want to give the other the pleasure of seeing that so they both smirked at each other.

"My my, what a pleasant coincidence, may I help you in some way, _dear sister_?" Robin didn't really want to spend much time talking with his older sister so he decided to cut to the chase quickly

"My dear brother, I was worried about your health, I heard you had quite an awful night yesterday. How is the day treating you?" As much as Robin wanted to keep the smirk on his face when she finished that sentence he changed his smirk for a glare towards his sister.

"And by the way, could you please stop tearing apart Grimleal priests? It can reflect very bad on all of us, you will end up making people think that we are heartless monsters." He didn't want to keep any façades and waste time with useless chat so he didn't pay mind to what Aversa said last. "Aversa, Validar knows the reason of what happened to me yesterday, doesn't he?"

Aversa brought her hand closer to her mouth as she chuckled in a superiority expression at her brother's reaction. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't...By the way, were you going to somewhere in particular?"

Robin sighed and changed from his glare to a smirk again, determined to wipe that smirk from Aversa's face. "I'm just going for a stroll. And forget about what I asked, Validar probably wouldn't even bother to tell you, why would he? He is not one who likes to _waste_ his time."

This time it was Aversa who changed her expression, glaring at Robin and gritting her teeth. "Aversa, I truly pity you, you dedicate your life to that man seeking for his approval, yet it is clear that he doesn't respect you one bit. What makes it even more sad is the reason why you seek for his approval."

"How dare you..." Aversa gritted her teeth even more, her hand tensed and suddenly it began to be surrounded by dark magic. Robin was very pleased by that reaction, Validar had probably sent her to control him and she did follow her father's orders even though she hated even the simple fact of being near Robin. Robin also didn't enjoy his sister presence, so he always decided to piss her off so that she would leave him be.

Thankfully for him, he knew everything about his sister. All of her feelings, problems, complexes, fears... And he didn't hesitate in using that knowledge to his advantage without feeling sorry for her even though he knew how much it pained her. By choosing to obey her father, she had decided to side against Robin.

Unlike those Grimleal fanatics, Aversa was fully aware of the consequences that Validar's actions could bring to the world in case he succeeded, not only that but she had also suffered -even though not as much as Robin- from her father's madness, she also knew of what mad plans he had in store for her in the future.

And even worse, she did nothing to ease Reflet's suffering when she was in a position to do something about it, and for all of that, Robin would never forgive her. She would receive the same treatment that her father and the other Grimleal high ranks would receive when he got strong enough to overpower the grip Validar had on him.

"Settle down Aversa, you of all people know that you can't get nothing from confronting me, your strongest spells are not even close to mine. Besides, I think you have an eccentric pawn with a crown to command rather than stay here and waste your time with me, don't you?"

The energy disappeared from Aversa's hand and she relaxed her muscles, she dropped the glare and grew a smirk again as she chuckled. "You think you have everything under control don't you? I can't wait to see that awful smirk of yours change for a look of despair. Have no doubt that the day when that happens will come, and when we get to that day, I will be there, and we'll see who will laugh at the other."

With that she turned and left to wherever she needed to go. Robin wasn't sure if that last statement should be taken seriously or if she was just bluffing. Surely his plans were still not completed, but if Reflet did her part the war could be avoided, at least delayed until he found some way to take Gangrel out of the picture.

He just decided to forget about what Aversa said -at least for now- and continued his way towards his destination.

After exiting the temple's main building he went towards a small building behind the main one, it was similar to the typical Plegian stable for wyverns, however this one seemed to be much bigger than the standard ones, and the doors were quite big.

From the outside loud childish laughs could be heard. Robin already could guess what was going on inside.

Once he opened the door his suspicions were confirmed, Henry was lying on his back on the floor laughing and above him, a giant lizard-like creature was running it's tongue all over Henry's face while he was making fake attempts of escaping the beast.

The lizard-like creature was similar to a wyvern but it was slightly different. First of all, it was even bigger and scarier than the biggest wyvern that could be found in the continent of Valm. Also, it's wings were separated from it's upper limbs and were situated on it's back, it also had a couple of straight horns that went backwards, it's eyes were dark red and it's scales were coloured in a very dark purple.

When the dragon noticed Robin entering her house, the creature let what seemed a roar of delight -not that anybody could tell, since her usual roars always made the walls of the stable shake as if there was an earthquake- and leapt towards him partially forgetting Henry.

Robin pet her head while he scratched beneath her jaw. The dragon started shaking it's tail and flap slowly it's wings while letting groans of pleasure. "Did you really miss me that much Idoun? I come to see you everyday I can. And when I am not here there is always Henry to keep you some company."

Robin then turned to face Henry. "By the way, Henry, thank you for taking care of Idoun, I really appreciate it. And sorry to ask you to do it many times but you know how can she react if I put someone that she doesn't like with her, she's quite picky."

After washing his face and his hair Henry pulled his personal tome from his cloak and called for a weak wind spell towards him to dry himself. "No problem Rob, she's one of my best friends so I like staying with her, besides, we usually have a lot of fun together. Don't we, little girl?" She only gave a small growl and Henry began to scratch her belly, which she also seemed to enjoy.

"I assume you have already fed her, so we'll be going soon if you don't mind." He headed towards the exit with Idoun behind him, once they were outside he got onto Idouns back. "By the way Henry, when are you leaving to Carrion Island again?"

"Mmm, I dunno, probably after Validar gets back there from the Dragon's Table, it's funnier that way. When he gets mad -and that happens a whole lot- it sure gets gory around there." He drew an even wider smile thinking about it. "Just imagine his face when he gets there and sees our surprise, he will be soooo pissed."

Henry began to laugh and as Robin began to think about it he couldn't help but smile as well, his father's anger was Robin's pleasure after all. "Well then, see you in a couple of days Henry."

With that Idoun began to flap her wings and slowly she started to raise herself from the ground and began north. Towards Regna Ferox.

* * *

"It seems you are competent enough with the daggers. You are hired." Gaius smirked when the Grimleal assassin told him his decision.

He was sent by Robin to try and infiltrate the group that was going to be sent to assassinate the Exalt. The squad consisted mainly of Grimleal members but some of the assassins were also hired, and since Gaius skills assassinating were only matched by few it was easy for him to convince the leader of the group.

Even though the Ylisseans should be prepared by the time they strike, it didn't hurt to have someone more to assure that there will be no nasty surprises.

The only thing that irked Gaius was the fact that he would have to follow the orders of this Jamil guy, who was just an arrogant Grimleal assassin. Leader of the assassin squad to kill the Exalt or not, Gaius was sure that he could kill this guy five times before he even had time to react.

He was doing it because it was his job, because he was following Robin's orders, and he wouldn't question them no matter what. Not only because he owed him a lot, but also because he considered him to be his closest friend. But Gaius still thought that Robin best compensate him with a good amount of his favourite cakes once he got back from following this twat's orders.

But for now, he would try to stay useful and try to gather some information, hopefully if he had any good news by the time Robin comes back, they could go out and have some good time that Robin pretty much needed.

For now it seemed that their situation was finally improving, but Gaius knew that until Robin was sure that her sister was safe by seeing it himself, he wouldn't be able to stay calm easily. That's why it was Gaius duty to take care of his dear friend and take him out so that he could have a good time.

Since the stables weren't very far from where he was he decided to head there and see if he could tell his friend of the recent success before he headed towards Ferox. Why he was headed to Ferox? He didn't know, nor did he care.

He finally got there and saw Henry waving his hand to no one, Gaius looked on the direction he was looking and saw a figure each time getting smaller and smaller. Henry noticed Gaius presence and turned his attention towards him.

"Robin just left, didn't he?" The dark mage just nodded. "Oh well, guess I'll tell him when he comes back." The assassin then stood next to the dark mage, both staring at the horizon, the figure of Robin and Idoun couldn't be seen anymore.

"Hey Gaius, what do you think Robin is going to do in Ferox?" Gaius just shrugged. "Who knows, if he wanted us to know he would have probably told us."

"Yeah..." The two of them kept staring at the horzion sluggishly for about five minutes until Henry's stomach growled. "Gaius, would like to go grab some sweets for breakfast?"

Gaius chuckled. "What a question to ask Henry."

* * *

 _In the Ylissean-Feroxi border_

After two days of preparations the Shepherds finally set to Ferox. However the trip hadn't been peaceful at all until now. On their first day they encountered some Risen -the name given to the undead creatures- but thanks to Reflet's strange light magic advantage over them the Risen weren't that much of a problem. Even if they hadn't suffered from casualties, everyone agreed that the day could have started better.

Reflet also got to met other members of the Shepherds that she hadn't met when she was introduced by Lissa in her first day as a Shepherd.

Shortly after they defeated the Risen, the group continued without Sumia, who stopped to attend to an injured Pegasus they found on the road.

The second day they were finally nearing the border. The extreme cold and the snow could attest to that. Reflet made a mental note to herself, the moment she regained her memory she would have to thank the person who gave her the cloak.

While Lissa or Vaike were freezing -even though the latter deserved it more for being so stubborn regarding his clothing-, Reflet was warm and cozy in her cloak even though it wasn't very thick. Lissa got a thick cloak from the convoy, however Vaike thought they were insulting his manliness when he was offered one and rejected it, a decision that it didn't take a lot of time for him to regret.

Finally they arrived to the Longfort, which was a huge wall that extended throughout the border between Ferox and Ylisse. Much to Reflet's astonishment, the border guards confused Chrom, the one and only Prince of Ylisse, with the one and only Falchion, and with the one and only brand of the Exalt on his shoulder, for a Plegian bandit trying to impersonate him. Reflet would have paid to see those Plegian phonies.

Because of that, the border guards attacked Chrom and the Shepherds saw themselves engaged in battle with them, and what was even worse, the Shepherds had a handicap. They had to be careful and try not to kill anyone, since that would likely ruin the purpose of this expedition.

"Frederick! Kellam! Be careful with that axeman over there, he has a hammer!"

"Sully! Take Lissa to heal Vaike! And tell him to never engage any myrmidon again! What was he thinking? Gods!"

"Miriel! Your magic is more effective than normal weapons against armors, so take care of that armoured knight with Stahl's support!"

"Chrom! You and I will face their leader!"

Reflet was shouting orders to all the Shepherds tirelessly in order to ensure that they were knocking out the border guards without killing them and at the same time not getting killed.

Chrom couldn't help but watch her while she was commanding the Shepherds. Each time he would watch her he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was, if they weren't in the middle of a skirmish he would probably be staring at her the whole day.

Now the prince and the tactician faced the leader of the border guards. A heavily armoured woman wielding a steel lance. "We'll see in this battle whether your claims were true or not!"

Reflet proceeded to tell Chrom of her plan to best the armoured knight. "Chrom, sometime the simplest plans are the best. While you distract her I will prepare a wind spell. When I see an opening I will try to fire it as accurately as I can to make her trip." Chrom nodded and began to attack.

Chrom unleashed a series of attacks but the knight stopped them effectively with her big shield. Each time Chrom would slow down the knight would try and take advantage of the opening and stab the prince with her lance, but even if the knight's speed wasn't bad, the prince was clearly superior in that aspect.

Reflet began to prepare her spell. It was a basic wind spell, she didn't want to charge a stronger and risk killing the captain of the border guards. She thought that using wind magic was a bit of a pain sometimes, having to morph the wind to a blade or to a gust of wind depending on what you wanted.

Chrom landed a powerful attack on the knight's shield that left her staggering. Reflet saw that and fired her spell towards the knight's feet, but surprisingly, she managed to avoid triping by jumping backwards, escaping the gust of wind and distancing herself from Chrom to recover.

"Reflet! Lend me a hand!" The prince ran towards the knight with his sword ready to strike and Reflet nodded in understanding of his words. When Chrom halved the distance between him and the knight he jumped towards her and at that moment the tactician unleashed a similar wind spell that propelled Chrom towards the armoured knight.

The captain of the border guards was still recovering when her eyes widened at the sight of Chrom flying towards her, she raised her lance the best way she could to try and stop the prince, but he effectively took it out of his way with his sword.

He then kicked the armour and thanks to the momentum he had from Reflet's spell he was able to knock the knight to the ground. Chrom then pointed the tip of his Falchion on the captain's throat. "Yield."

The armoured knight chuckled. "You words were true, no phony could possible wage a battle the way you did." Chrom nodded and then helped her stand up. "My apologies, Prince Chrom. I will send word of your arrival and I will also escort to you to the capital personally."

Chrom nodded. "Thank you, that would be most appreciated."

Reflet was amazed at how their behaviour changed so much, but not because of the power of words, but because of their strength. Just as Chrom said, a nation of warriors, they accused him of being a phony and refused to believe him until he was able to prove it by actions, not by words. "Amazing, her hole demeanour has changed."

"In the Feroxi language strength speaks louder than any word. I should have took that into account, I am afraid I have overestimated the value of diplomacy here." The stern knight pointed out, but Lissa didn't want any more useless chat, she was freezing there.

"So can we get going, Chrom?" The prince himself wasn't freezing, but he would be lying if he said that it wasn't could out there.

"Yeah, it's not getting any warmer."

* * *

It was going to get dark soon so the Shepherds were invited to spend the night in a Feroxi village that wasn't too far from the capital. The village was not very big but at least it had an inn that was able to house all of the Shepherds who were part of the expedition.

After they got to the inn they were also invited for dinner, a very welcomed hot deer stew to help the Shepherds forget the Feroxi weather.

Reflet was one of the first Shepherds to head to the inn's dinning room. Even though Reflet thought that with bear meat it would probably taste better, she still found her dinner quite tasty.

Chrom saw her alone decided to join her in dinner. "So, what do you think of them? The Shepherds I mean."

"Well... They are quite... unique. But they are all good people nonetheless. They all have treated me well despite the fact that I have an unknown past and my Plegian looks. I guess that your and Lissa's trust are big factors, the only one who sometimes seems a bit wary around me is Frederick, but I don't blame him either. He only does it for your safety and still and he hasn't been specifically disagreeable towards him so I don't mind."

"I see, but I think their trust is not because of me and Lissa. Unlike most tacticians, you are willing to jump straight onto the battlefield and bleed with your comrades. When you give them orders you are by their side fighting alongside them. They see it and they apreciate it, I think that is where their trust came from. And it also helps the fact that you are both skilled in combat and tactics."

"Really... I hope all of your trust is not misplaced. You truly have been kind to me so I will work hard to repay this kindness."

"Don't worry to much about these things. You have already paid any possible debts to me back when you fought to save Ylissean lives in Southtown. Besides, you already saved my life twice, remember?"

Reflet stopped eating trying to remember. What Chrom said was true, back when they were fighting the Risen leader the night of the earthquake she took a blow from a short axe that would have killed Chrom and when both of them thought they were going to die because of the enemy reinforcements she was able to blast them with...

With that spell. Yes, Valaura. She had thought about it shortly after that fight finished, but she didn't think of it again. Just what was that spell? Why did it left her with such a strange feeling of uneasiness? And what type of spell it was? It certainly wasn't dark magic, she was sure about it, it felt to her like light magic, but something about it rubbed her off.

She remembered how she felt all her vision turn to a reddish tone, how her tome glowed in a dark purple light instead of the usual white and how the back of her right hand began to burn. Her right hand in particular worried her.

Back in her first night in Ylisstol, before she went to sleep she took of her gloves for the first time since she woke up in that field and noticed the mark on the back of her hand. What worried was how looking at this mark gave her a similar uneasiness to the one she got from using Valaura, she also remembered the feeling of the flames that surrounded her hand.

She would have to learn more about it by looking in the Royal Library or maybe asking some people.

There was also the question of why she could use light magic given how uncommon it was. Probably no one in Ylisse used it, maybe in other continents it was more common, specially between the people of certain faiths. But that question didn't quite bother her now, if someday she regained her memories she would most likely know.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" Reflet was brought back to the real world by Chrom's words. "No, not at all. Thank you for your concern."

"By the way, would you mind if from now on we sparred often? It's not often that I get to find skilled sword users, so I think I can learn a lot from you."

"Sure, whenever you like, I am sure I can also learn a few things from you."

Both where finishing dinner. The tactician finished first and was about to stand up and go to her room when Chrom interrupted her. "So early? Why don't you stay a little longer? Some of us will be staying here chatting a little bit and maybe have a drink or two."

Reflet still stood up. "Thank you Chrom, but I feel bit tired, I think I would prefer to go to sleep now. And remember that we leave pretty early tomorrow so if you are going to have drink don't overdo it."

"Of course, don't worry. Everything is under control."

"Are you sure? Vaike's whiff seems to tell otherwise."

Chrom just chuckled. "Yes I am sure, don't worry mother."

Reflet also chuckled. "We'll see..." Reflet was an amnesiac woman, but she wasn't a dumb one. She knew what a drink or two usually meant, specially if friends where around, and on a trip -it wasn't an outing but still...- but she would let them be. Hopefully tomorrow there wouldn't be any fighting, and in case they were to be targeted, the feroxi would be escorting them.

* * *

Reflet was to share room with Sumia that night, and after leaving the dinning room she headed to her room to finally get some rest.

Once she got there she took a nice warm bath to wash herself from all the dirt she had on her body after two days of marching. After that, she lied on her bed and made herself comfortable. After a couple of minutes she noticed Sumia entering her room with a book. "Hi there Sumia, you also won't be staying downstairs?"

"I don't think so, I feel a bit tired today, after all it was the first time for me in a battle with the Shepherds." With her bright smile, she headed towards her bed only to trip with a chair and landing on the floor.

"Sumia! Are you okay?" Reflet rushed to aid her friend helping her stand up. After she stood up she dusted off her skirt awkwardly and still wincing a little from the little pain. "Oww, not really- I mean... Yeah... I guess."

Reflet now noticed the book in Sumia's hands. "Sumia, I didn't know you like to read. I myself like to read whenever I get the chance."

Sumia's face lit up, for the first time since she was a Shepherd she had found a fellow reader. Finally she had found a friend who shared her passion, well, she had her best friend back in Ylisstol but she wasn't that much of a reader, only sappy romance novels casually; and of course, Miriel and Maribelle didn't count either. The first for obvious reasons and the noble because almost all of her reading involved subjects concerning her studies in law.

"Yeah! I love books! Tell me Reflet, would you like me to give you some books when we get to Ylisstol? I have a lot of books, most of them were thrown away so I decided that it was better to keep them rather than leave them there don't you think? We can discuss the ones that both of us have read and recommend books to each other. By the way, what kind of books do you prefer to read?"

Reflet chuckled at Sumia's change, in the instant she mentioned the book she seemed to forget about her tripping and didn't seem any more the insecure girl she was few seconds ago.

"Of course Sumia, I'd be happy to share some books with you. As to why I read, everything's fine with me. Although if I had to pick I would chose novels based on historic events and strategy books."

'Wow, Reflet is really something else...' Sumia began thinking on her friend and reading partner. 'She is both a great warrior and a tactician, unlike me she seems really confident of herself, she also seems to be quite cultured and she is really beautiful... I can see why he asked her to stay with him this night but didn't say anything to me... Probably Vaike was right.'

She sighed to herself. "Is there something bothering you?" Reflet asked gently noticing the sudden change in her mood. "N-no, not at all." 'After all it's my fault, if I didn't trip over everything then maybe he would look at me with different eyes.'

"Okay... If you say so. Well, if you don't mind I'll be getting some sleep. Goodnight Sumia."

* * *

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

A loud cheer came from the Feroxi guards that escorted the Shepherds at the sight of a shirtless blonde guy and a blue-haired prince smashing their now empty mugs at the table.

"Ha! That is some good ale!"

"Yeah. Teach definitely approves."

Both of them had their mugs and refilled and took sip from the mug to enjoy their drink. Vaike gave a look towards Chrom and grinned. "So... Chrom, what d'ya think about Reflet."

"Well, she has been really helpful so far, she is a great addition to the Shepherds, besides-"

Vaike punched weakly Chrom's arm to stop him, his grin never fading from his face. "Chrom, am sure ya already know what Teach meant."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Chrom, I've already noticed it. The looks you gave her today on Longfort and the rosy cheeks when she went to her room pretty much gave ya away."

"Shit! Was it that obvious? Don't tell me other people noticed too." There were certain people he could think of that wouldn't let him be, a certain little sister of his in particular would tease him to hell.

"Don't worry pal, I got your back." Chrom sighed in relief. If it was only Vaike who found out he wouldn't have any problems of other people finding out, he could trust the axeman.

"Still..." Vaike took a sip from his mug. "If I were in your skin I would be more careful now, if ya let the Squirt catch ya you're in for some trouble."

Vaike thought the same as Chrom, he knew how loose Lissa's mouth was. If she knew the only reason that would keep her from making the information public would be to constantly tease him.

Even if he didn't do much, people shouldn't know that the prince was giving looks to his tactician, it wasn't necessary now.

"So, ya finally found a gal that got your eyes huh?" Vaike asked with his trademark grin.

Chrom relaxed, maybe it was because of the alcohol but he thought he could be sincere with Vaike, he was sure Vaike wouldn't leak their men's talk. "Well... Maybe I do found her interesting, and I find myself pretty comfortable around her. And what about you Vaike? I've seen around Sully a lot lately."

"Nah, it's only cause I am asking her to give me some advice on how to make lasses follow me around with pies."

"Okay... So, you wanna chug this one too?"

"Hell yeah!"

Meanwhile, not to far from the prince and the shirtless blonde, a blonde princess was staring at them with a devilish grin on her face while she giggled after having absorbed all the juicy information.

 _Back in Plegia's capital_

"So, he still hasn't found out?" A tall thin man with tan skin and spicky black hair looked down at a kneeling Aversa. The man wore robes similar to those of Plegian sorcerers but his one was far more detailed with golden trimmings, indicating his higher status.

"No master, I am sure he wouldn't have left had he found out."

The tall man chuckled and grinned. "Stupid brat, he thinks he's very clever. He has gotten pretty arrogant over the years. But it matters not, the Link has already been established and the stage has been set. There is nothing he can do to change the fate of this world."

"Isn't that right? Lord Grima."

He turned his head to his left to find a hooded figure walking towards them. A menacing dark aura surrounded the man and a maniac laughter invaded the whole temple, sending chills down all nearby spines.

* * *

 **AN: One of my goals with this chapter was to give some information about Robin, mainly the people who know him and also his reputation. Expect him to be a above every Shepherd during most of this fic. I mean, if he was raised and trained to be Grima's vessel he would obviously be stronger than most humans.**

 **I have also realised that the plot that I had planned had some holes in it towards the end, so I will try to fix them and still make the plot enjoyable. As always, feel free to make any suggestions or constructive criticism, everything is welcome.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry for being so late! I had too much to do, recovery exams, traveling, Smash tournaments, and a lot of videogames (a lot of Fire Emblem as well). Can someone please tell me why FFVI and FFIX are such amazing games? I have played both of them more than 20 times each and I still enjoy them a lot.**

 **Anyways, this chapter wasn't as long as I expected it to be but next chapter will probably be a lot longer. Enjoy and please feel free to review or leave suggestions.**

* * *

Chapter 3

 _In Arena Ferox_

Out of curiosity, Reflet had asked Raimi about the apparently so famous Arena Ferox. Most of the other Shepherds also decided to listen to her description as it was their first time in Ferox and were curious as well.

Raimi's descriptions turned out to be pretty accurate, but that didn't prevent the Shepherds from being impressed by the Feroxi structure. The arena was huge, it wasn't just an amphitheatre that according to Raimi, had space for more than fifty thousand people, it was much more than that.

In the arena also were located the Khan's personal chambers, and the arena was full of armouries and blacksmiths. It was also stuffed with places that sold food to sate the feroxi appetite.

Another thing that caught Reflet's attention was how the feroxi were ready to go for war at any moment. Every one of them seemed to have some sort of weapon with them, whether it was an axe, a sword, or just some daggers.

A race of warriors indeed.

It seemed as if there was some kind of festival approaching because the arena was full of life and so were the streets of the capital despite the harsh feroxi climate.

There was something that bothered the tactician throughout the whole trip. 'I told him not to overdo it.' Just from their faces, one could deduce that Chrom, Stahl, Vaike and Sully were hangover.

The tactician was particularly annoyed by Chrom's behaviour. She didn't care about the other three, but she had already told Chrom not to overdo it, especially since he came to Ferox in name of the Exalt, so meeting the Khan with one heck of a hangover wasn't a good idea in Reflet's eyes.

Raimi led them to what seemed to be a throne room to bring the Khan; only Chrom, Lissa, Frederick and Reflet would enter the room, while the others would wait. "Lissa, dear. Before we enter the Khan comes can you please go to the convoy and bring my blackboard please?"

"You mean that thing you bought from that merchant the other day? Sure, I'll be right back."

* * *

Lissa didn't take too long to bring what the tactician asked for. She handed her the rectangular board. It wasn't really big, but it was enough such that she could draw some simulations so that she could get her point across her comrades if needed.

But the reasons why Reflet needed that board right now was still unknown to her. Was she planning to do some tactics lessons now? "Hey Reflet? Why would you need the blackboard?"

The tactician just smiled at her. "Don't worry Lissa, just make sure to cover your ears." She then blew gently the nails of her right hand, Lissa caught sight of her actions and instantly did as told. Frederick also did the same, maintaining his stoic face and closing his eyes. The only one who didn't seem to know what was happening was Chrom, still in his own world.

He instantly was brought back to this as Reflet began to roughly scratch the board making a loud creak that seemed to come from hell itself for Chrom.

He instantly brought his hands to his ears to try to protect himself from the hellish sound that seemed to almost tear apart his head, but it was useless.

The sound calmed down for a moment and Chrom slowly took uncovered his ears to greet the silence, but the peace didn't last for long and another loud creak came rushing to his ears.

When the sound stopped again he again slowly uncovered his ears. This time there was no more nasty surprises. He shot a glare towards the tactician. "What in the hell was that for?"

"Nothing, just checking the quality of my new toy. I must say it's pretty resistant, don't you think so?" She replied with a smirk. "If you want to, we can check it's resistance again whenever you want, just make sure to be have a pretty bad hangover, especially after I told not to overdo it."

Chrom just made a barely audible grunt. "Frederick..." He looked towards his protector like a child looking for protection in his father in order to find a shield to protect himself from the tactician.

"I am sorry milord, but it is not my duty to question how the tactician chooses to discipline the members of the Shepherds for their inadequate behaviour."

Chrom didn't even bother to look for protection in a giggling Lissa and just gave a loud sigh while Reflet's smirk grew even wider. "Besides..." Now in a more serious tone but still with a smile on her face. "What would you think if some day the Khan showed himself or herself hangover in a meeting with your sister, or even worse, drunk. How do you think that would reflect on them if word got out of that."

Chrom couldn't refute any of her points, everything she said was true. He probably would be really offended if some leader showed up drunk in a meeting with Emmeryn.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't. But I know of some oaf that has the balls to do it as long as you pay the drinks for him."

Everybody turned their head towards the voice. A tall woman, with blonde hair and tan skin, followed by Raimi entered the room. She was clad in red and white armour and had a big broadsword resting on her shoulder. Despite wearing an armour, her toned arms could still be seen, and by the look of it, those arms had put to shame many men's.

Chrom straightened up so that he would look more like a leader and not like a kid who doesn't know how to drink. "The Khan, I presume? A pleasure." He stretched his hand and the Khan shook it.

"Yes, well, one of them. I am the East Khan Flavia. I apologize for the incident at the border Prince Chrom, but it seems that my guards have already made peace with you so maybe we can forget that incident." She let out a laugh, confirming that she already knew of the Prince's current state.

"What? No we can't." All eyes instantly turned to Reflet. "How could they mistake the Prince himself, specially when his carrying all sorts of proofs of his lineage, with some bandit. I think you should have a word with your damn border guards Khan Flavia."

Where some other leaders would have felt offended, Flavia just laughed like before. "And who is this woman, Prince Chrom? Your girlfriend?" Both blushed slightly. "No, we're not-"

"Ha! Yes, I like her already, she really is getting the hang of Feroxi diplomacy!" Now her tone changed slightly to a more serious one "Prince Chrom, I know why you've come, Plegians have also ransacked some villages posing as something they weren't. But sadly, I cannot provide with any troops. I lack the authority."

"Forgive me, but I don't understand. Aren't you the Khan?" Lissa asked. Sensing that they may go back to Ylisstol empty handed worried her.

"She is one of the two Khans Lissa, the East Khan and the West Khan." Chrom clarified, making use of the few lessons that Reflet had taught him about Feroxi politics so that he doesn't screw up.

"Exactly Prince, I see that you've done your research. Every few years we hold a tournament, each Khan chooses a champion and the Khan who wins acquires the sovereignty of both kingdoms. The last tournament was won by the West Khan so..."

"He has the final word when forging alliances. So we won't receive any aid at all?" Chrom was now having the same worries as Lissa.

"Not if you give up so easily. You see, you could always go and ask the West Khan for the alliance, but he will probably put some absurd conditions in order to accept, and I don't know if right now Ylisse is in a position to spare many resources. But I have another possible solution that may be better for the both of us."

Chrom raised his brows and smiled slightly. "You see, the next tournament will be held in a couple of days, and I heard that you're quite capable with that sword of yours, Prince. The West Khan changed his champion yesterday so if you accept I can do the same."

Chrom now had a full smile on his face. He liked it better this way, he preferred to swing his sword rather than do politics. So if he could do politics by swinging his sword, he would accept anytime. "And if I win..."

Flavia also smiled, she knew she had her champion. "I get control over Ferox, and you get your alliance with much better conditions for your country. If you want you can come over with your girlfriend and we can discuss the conditions later with a mug of that ale you enjoyed that much Prince."

Chrom wanted to protest, but he hesitated enough that someone spoke before him, the idea of having that ale again didn't sound bad to him.

"Tactician, Khan Flavia, my name is Reflet, Tactician of the Shepherds. A pleasure."

"All right Khan Flavia, my people are desperate, and if the fastest way of getting an alliance is winning that tournament, then we will take up our steel."

"Ha Ha! I also like you Prince Chrom. I hope you end up coming on top in the tournament. I'll tell someone to show you around the arena and also to show you your rooms, if you want to rest a bit before we start discussing the conditions of our future alliance, feel free to do so. Now, if you'll excuse me."

The Khan shook again the Prince's hand and left the room. Soon, Raimi took a step forward. "Milord, if you don't mind I will be your guide during your stay in Ferox, if you have any inquires feel free to ask me."

The tournament was to be held in a couple of days so most of the Shepherds decided to rest for today and enjoy the capital and the arena tomorrow.

Before fighting in the tournament, the conditions of a future alliance should be discussed, it was logical. Maybe Flavia's conditions were not as good as they hoped, in that case Chrom would be better of waiting for the tournament to end without involving himself.

Chrom and Reflet headed towards the room where Flavia told them that the negotiation was to be held. The negotiation would probably be a hard one, who knows how many hours they would sitting in that room going to and fro with all kinds of conditions.

Reflet would try to help Chrom as much as she could, but she didn't know much about what Ylisse could afford to give, to her knowledge, the only thing they had excess of was wheat.

Finally they arrived to the door, Reflet waited for Chrom but... "Okay Reflet, this is the room. Good luck, I leave the fate of Ylisse in your hands." He gave her a thumbs up and casually started to walk away.

Reflet's jaw dropped to the ground for about five seconds. She quickly grabbed Chrom before he could walk away. "Wait I minute! What do you mean by 'Good Luck'?"

Chrom put on a surprised look. "Good luck means Good luck. I don't understand, is there any problem?"

Reflet's jaw dropped again. "Are you serious? Do you really have the nerve to drop me alone in the negotiation and kindly walk away like nothing? You? The Prince?"

"Yeah. I mean, isn't that why I pay you for?"

"You pay me to make strategies in the battlefield not to do your obligations! Besides, there is little I can do to help since I don't know much about Ylisse, while you are the Prince and should be aware of what Ylisse specifically needs and can afford to give."

"All right, to be sincere, I don't really know much of what I should, usally it's Emm's advisers who handle this kind of things, I just know that we have a lot of wheat and vineyards." The way he so casually said it while shrugging his shoulders really pissed Reflet off.

"What?! And while you were in Ylisse you were planning to let your amnesiac tactician handle the negotiations that could possibly decide the fate of your country?!"

Chrom held his hands up trying to protect himself the tactician's anger. "Okay Okay, I am sorry. Look, let's just get inside and try to do what we can, all right? After, how hard can this be."

She face palmed. "A lot Chrom. On the other side of that door Flavia is probably waiting for us with a bunch of advisers and a well prepared negotiation plan, and we have nothing."

"I am sure everything will be fine. Have some faith in me."

Chrom turned the knob of the door and both of them entered the room. They didn't find a room with a big table with Flavia sitting in the most important seat, surrounded by stern looking advisers ready to squeeze everything they can from you until they leave your country in ruins for the alliance that Ylisse needed so much.

No, instead, they found the Khan, devouring some roasted boar all by herself without any sort of delicacy. When she caught sight of them she stopped eating and cleaned her hands in orders to greet her guests.

"Hello there. I apologize for the scene, but I didn't think you would come that early, and after some sparring hunger always kicks. Feel free to join."

Chrom was about to take in the offer but Reflet stepped in. "Thank you for the offer Khan Flavia, but we would prefer to discuss the terms of our possible alliance."

"Okay then. So how about this, I can give you the reinforcements you need, and some of the troops that will be stationed in villages can also train some local militia. How about you Prince?"

"Well, we have a lot of wheat and vineyards, like too many, would you want some?"

"Yeah, those things are hard to grow in Ferox. I think we have our agreement Prince." She grinned and shook hands with Chrom who was also grinning.

Reflet could only watch with an inexpressive face the events that happened before her.

After they both exited the room Reflet still maintained the same inexpressive look. Chrom sighed and threw a smirk towards the tactician. "See, I to-"

"Don't say it." Still the same inexpressive face.

Chrom maintained his smirk "What? I just wanted to say that I to-"

"Don't."

"I told you Reflet. Everything will be fine."

Those are the words that triggered Reflet. "No it won't! How is everything supposed to be fine when a future alliance that could decide the fate of the whole continent be discussed in less than thirty seconds, in a room with just a Khan gobbling down on some boar, a Prince who doesn't know what his own country has, and a tactician that doesn't even remember her birthday, all that without any advisers or signed documents, the negotiation was just 'Here, take some soldiers.' and 'Here, have some wheat and fruit.' without discussing things like opening future trade routes or maybe the removal of specific tariffs. How is everything supposed to be fine?"

She ended her rant with a pout that Chrom found absolutely adorable, he just laughed weakly and patted her head like he would have done with Lissa. "You're worrying too much Reflet, isn't it good that we got we are looking for without any complications? Now just comes the easy part, winning that duel."

She sighed loudly. "I suppose your right." She said still pouting "Sorry for the rant."

"It Okay. Hey. Would like to help me prepare my duel for tomorrow? Besides, I still haven't sparred with you and I find your swordplay really interesting."

Reflet raised her brows. "Yeah? How so?"

Chrom rubbed his chin. "It's something that Frederick pointed out first, and then inspecting it closer I found his words to be true. You see, Both me and Frederick have our own styles, there are some similarities because he taught a lot of swordplay, but each of our styles are clearly defined."

Reflet found his words interesting, she never had thought about it, but she already had an idea of what Chrom was wanting to say. "Yes, however mine..."

"Even the swordmasters that create their own style end up having a clearly defined one despite being unique. However, you don't have that, which brings to the next thing, the way you fight is rather unique."

Reflet's eyes widened for half a second. _'A style that makes the most of our tactical minds.'_ It was the voice of a male. She couldn't remember whose voice it was, but felt awfully familiar. "A style that makes the most of a tactical mind." She muttered to herself, enough for Chrom to hear.

"Exactly, Frederick told me something like that. What you do is counter your opponent as the fight goes on, it seems as if you study each one of his movements and find weak points each time they attack or retaliate. Also your base skills with the sword are enough to force your opponent into not holding back, or else he loses, and then you can figure out the weaknesses of their best skills. I dare say that as long as you keep your base skills with the sword and your speed good enough you can be pretty much unbeatable, unless your opponent is perfect."

What Chrom said was right, Frederick got it all right. It sruck her now, she hadn't thought about it because of the adrenaline she felt on the battlefield, but each engagement was like making a strategy on the battlefield, she could see through her opponents like she could catch the flow of the battle with just a glance of her surroundings.

"And I guess that's why you want to practice with me, so that I can help you find weaknesses in your swordplay." She smiled. "Fine, that's the sort of things I get paid for, not stupid negotiations. But don't expect to go easy on you, 'milord'."

Chrom chuckled. "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Lissa wandered through the streets of the Feroxi capital stopping at all kinds of shops and stands. Since it seemed that everybody's option was either spar or rest, she found herself the only one who wanted to explore the capital even if just a little bit.

Of course, she knew that if she told her intentions, Chrom wouldn't let her go alone and she would have ended up bored in her room, so she waited until everyone went off to their destinations to separate herself from the rest.

Even if there was an important event coming up, Lissa still couldn't believe how lively the streets were. Even if there was an event like that in Ylisstol she would probably prefer to stay home near the fireplace instead of going out with this harsh climate!

But still, this was the first time she travelled outside Ylisse's borders, so she wanted to make the most out of her time. Most of the places were armouries, so she couldn't really enjoy those, but there was still a lot of food to taste and furs to try, not to mention that just taking a walk and enjoying the atmosphere around her was enough.

The princess was enjoying her time. She caught sight of a stand where they sold all kinds of accessories and similar stuff that was made with the remains of what was hunted. She didn't think before this kind of things would interest her, but this specific stand had really cute designs and she thought it would be nice to buy something to her sister.

While heading towards the stand some mysterious force instantly pulled her towards an alley. She didn't even have the chance to scream, a hand in her mouth prevented her from doing it.

Robin made sure to leave everything ready for Idoun. She was now sleeping and the Feroxi had already given him enough food for her. She would sleep for some time, then she would have lunch, and then she would go to sleep again.

He had to make sure he visited all the places he wanted to see in this lapse of time before Idoun woke up for a second time so that e could be with her, she liked to fly for some time after that so if she didn't find Robin with her she would go out and find him.

The Feroxi were generous enough to offer accommodation for her so the last thing he wanted was for a couple of feroxi to ran into her and get swallowed in case she was hungry.

Robin knew that in the arena he wouldn't find any book stores and he doesn't need any new weapons or armour, so the best option was to go to town. Last time he went there he found some really interesting books, and while he was at it, he could have something to eat.

He exited the arena with his hood up to protect himself from the harsh Feroxi cold (being Plegian he didn't find the cold to enjoyable), unluckily for him, he had just walked five minuted when he saw what was an unmistakable Plegian berserker pulling to an alley a girl who appeared to be in her early teens.

Of course! Something had to happen. He couldn't have a peaceful day. And because of these kind of idiots is why some people instantly refused to have anything to do with Plegians.

Gangrel truly was a moronic ruler! A nation cannot survive alone. It doesn't matter how much gold a country has, there is a point where it cannot grow any further without the help of other nations. Gangrel would end up taking Plegia to the depths of hell, and he would drag the rest of the continent with him, he would only make the job easier for Walhart and more difficult for him.

But right now he needed to help that girl. He followed the berserker to the dark alley, where he found him with six other Plegians, all berserkers or just brigands. The blonde haired girl was cornered around a dead end, however, what struck Robin was how familiar her face and that blonde hair of hers was.

'Wait, is that... Emmeryn's little sister? Princess Lissa? Yes, the descrpition I have matches her looks.' He sneaked himself a little closer to listen to the Plegians.

"Looks like we got a great catch huh?" The rest of the men laughed "Man, those who are sent to Ylisse are way luckier than us, it is impossible to have some fun in the villages without getting ourselves killed. Those Feroxi are truly barbarians. So imagine the smile on my face when I see the Exalt's own sister out there by herself! I couldn't be more happy!"

The Plegian tried to close on Lissa when they felt a gust of wind coming from above them. Before they could even blink twice they saw something that they wouldn't have never expected, they saw The Cloak. Right before them, in front of their noses, was Plegia's Grandmaster, the man who only had above him the King and the head of the Grimleal, standing between them and the Ylissean Princess.

Lissa's eyes widened. 'That man... He just came from above like nothing! He used wind magic like Reflet!"

The berserkers knew of Robin's ideals, they knew how he despised Gangrel's ways, and they knew how he despised those who decide to follow them, and most important, they knew his strenght.

From below his hood they could feel his glare towards them, they were still weighing whether to run for their lives or try to come up with an excuse that could convince the Grandmaster to spare them.

Before they could decide the Grandmaster opened his tome and it soon began glowing in a very dark purple hue. He soon began chanting some incantations and as he finished, he made in front of him three dots of blue light with his index finger, the three dots making the apexes of a triangle.

"Wait sir! Please liste-" He didn't get to finish.

After that he joined the three dots and with the resulting magic dot he drew some runes in front of him in the air. When he finished he held his fist forward with the index finger pointing upwards and screamed. "FIMBULVETR!"

At his scream a freezing whirlwind began to form around the Plegians. Lissa fell to the ground, she clossed her eyes and tried to shield her face with her arms. Soon, the whirlwind disappeared only for giant chunks of ice appear from the ground, engulfing the berserkers.

When Lissa opened her eyes they instantly widened at the sight of all the Plegians trapped inside the ice, frozen like statues. This kind of magic didn't seem like something anyone can pull of.

She was pretty impressed by that display of power, but she was also a little scared. 'Who is this guy?'

Robin turned towards her and offered her his hand to help her get up. "Hey there, are you okay? They didn't do anything to you didn't they?" He asked in a gentle tone.

She took his hand and just shook her head, she was focusing on trying to find out what was beneath that hood instead of talking. The only thing she could get was his smile.

"I am glad. Please pay no attention to this kind of people, they don't represent Plegians at all, a lot of Plegians such as myself are against Gangrel's actions." She just nodded. "Good. But please milady, try and be more cautious from now on, I am sure your guard won't mind coming with you if necessary."

'Yeah, probably Frederick wouldn't have minded.' "Now, if you'll excuse me milady." He gave her a bow and left her alone again. After he left it struck her. "Why didn't I ask him his name? And that coat is similar to Reflet's, was that guy Grimleal? Well, if I see him again I'll have to ask him about Reflet."

She began to head back to the stand she was originally going to go, and then she would get back to the arena. She would love to tell the others about her story and about the hooded man, but there were two reasons to not do it.

First of all, she didn't want to get Reflet's hopes up. If they didn't see him again or if he didn't have anything to do with her she might be disappointed. It was better to wait and ask him directly if he knew her.

And secondly, because telling her story implied telling that she sneaked off all alone to town, and that she nearly got herself kidnapped by Plegia in the process, and that would in turn delete any possibilities of her sneaking off to wherever she may need to go when the situation required.

Yeah, for the moment she would stay quiet.

Even inside the room that Chrom was given to prepare himself before the duel he could hear the loud cheers coming from the crowd in the grandstand of the arena, which only made him more nervous.

He was positive that this would be the easiest than the negotiation with Khan Flavia, but now he wasn't so sure.

All of the Shepherds were already given spots on the stands and were sitting there, he was only allowed to bring one person with him before the duel started for coaching and some pointers.

When everyone expected him to choose Frederick, his guard and mentor in swordplay, he chose Reflet to everyone's surprise. The surprise didn't last long anyway when they realized that it was also a logic choice.

"Don't worry Chrom, if you find yourself in a pinch, just remember what I told you yesterday. I think we pretty much covered all the bad situations you could find yourself in and found possible solutions to each one of them."

Chrom was pacing throughout the whole room waiting for his moment. Reflet was right, he should be more than ready to confront any opponent right now.

But it was the crowd what still made him nervous. He should be ready for public exposure, he was a prince goddammit! He only could hope that he would loosen up whenever the fight started.

A guard came in telling Chrom that it was already time to go. Chrom turned to Reflet one last time. "Okay Chrom, remember. This duel isn't to death, but if you don't win Ylisse might be as good as dead."

Chrom sighed. He knew it, but those words right now weren't helping at all. "Oh, and Chrom, here's one for good luck." The tactician closed distances and pecked him on his right cheek and went with the rest of the Shepherds.

The prince brought his hand to his cheek, which was now colored in a hue of pink. 'Why did she do that? Now I am even more nervous!"

The guard led the prince to a passageway that connected with the duel ground. Chrom walked the passageway and the moment he exited it to the ground he found the cheers to be even louder than before, but he didn't want to seem nervous so he straightened himself and walked with a determined stance.

He also saw his opponent approach, and when the opponent was close enough for him to discern his eyes widened. 'Marth?!'

"It's good to see you, Prince Chrom." The warrior said with the same inexpressive tone he used back in the forest.

Chrom nodded. "It's good to see you too." Marth returned the nod and unsheathed her sword and assumed her battle stance. "May the best win emerge victorious."

Chrom also did the same and that was when his eyes widened again. Marth's stance was very similar to his, and that sword he was wielding was awfully familiar. "Wait, before we start, I have a question."

Marth didn't seem to pay attention and lunged towards him. "Fine, we'll let our swords do the talking.

Tha Khans had a separate gallery for each of themselves. In the western one, a well built tan skinned bald man with an eye patch in his right eye was enjoying the show put between the two warriors.

A guard however interrupted him. "Khan Basilio. Your guest has arrived."

"Let him in."

His guest, a cloaked man with crimson eyes and and white hair. He took the nearest seat to the Khan and both him and the Khan were offered a mug of mead, which they both accepted.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it? Khan Basilio."

The bald man laughed loudly. "Ha! Indeed. You keep saying you'll come to visit more often, but to me you are only sneaking away from your turn to treat. Remember that the last time the check was on me, and thanks to a certain someone it was a pretty big one."

The Grandmaster laughed at the memories of him and the Khan enjoying themselves in Basilio's favourite tavern with Basilio's finest warriors.

That night Basilio insisted on inviting Robin, and the Grandmaster took the opportunity to buy drinks for all the patrons on the Khan's account.

Needless to say, that didn't end well for the Khan's savings. "Yeah, I remember, it was a great night. But fourth years of being the reigning Khan was worth all that gold wasn't it?"

The Khan kept his grin. He didn't say it explicitly, but it was well-known between that after all, even the Khan enjoyed himself that night, even after ending with an empty purse. He had to celebrate his new victory over the East after all.

"Ha! I'm sure the best mercenary of the continent would cost me a lot less and would still give me the reigns of Ferox. See for yourself."

Robin eyed the two warriors clashing their swords in similar styles. The first one was instantly recognisable by Robin, blue hair, sacred sword and the brand on his shoulder. "Is that Prince Chrom? What is he doing here?"

"Apparently this time that old woman has picked someone decent didn't she? I bet she's still jealous because you were the West champion four years ago and easily won the tournament, and this time she also decided to go for something different than your classical mercenary."

"Yeah, but the question is how did she get Prince Chrom to represent her. Normally Khans wouldn't ask such important political figures to represent them. In my case it was only because I offered myself."

This time he eyed the other warrior, the first thing he noticed was his hair. "Wait, where's Lon'qu? Who's that."

"That's Marth. He appeared out of nowhere a week ago and kicked Lon's ass easily. Well, first the fight was rather equal, but it after a couple of minutes Marth became quickly superior, but I still don't know much about him."

This time he spent more time analysing Marth. 'Him?' He thought. There were several things mysterious about this guy, one of those was his figure. "Him? More like her don't you think?"

Yeah, it made sense for Robin. He knew how good Lon'qu was with the sword, he knew that no one would beat him easily, anyone, except if he didn't expect to find a wo...

"Ha! So you noticed to! I must admit your eyesight is incredible, I recognised it because I saw her from a close distance but yeah. No mercenary can defeat easily Lon'qu. But I have no reason to lift the blanket, so I'll keep her secret."

Robin wished that him being a her was the only thing that caught his attention. Her name for example. 'Marth.' It wasn't the name itself what was mysterious, not at all.

The name in itself would probably mean nothing to him. But her hair color, a style so similar to that of Prince Chrom, her sword...

'Who the hell is Marth?' There was also more, he could feel it, there was something more coming from Marth. He would have to pay her a visit after the end of the duel.

"So? Is your sister now safe with the Exalt?" The Khan interrupted Robin from his thoughts.

"She should be in Ylisstol, but I still can't assure her safety, and until I can't, I must remain in Plegia keeping an eye on Gangrel. But hopefully, if everything goes as we have planned and we both do our parts we should be able to finish Gangrel before any sort of war kicks in. And then, I can focus on more important threats."

Basilio instantly caught Robin's implications. "He has been growing stronger hasn't he?"

Robin nodded. "Yes, the last report I got told me that a lot of Valm's nations have either fallen or have aligned with Walhart. As we speak it is possible that even Chon'sin has fallen."

"So, we can safely assume that after he ends his business in Valm his next target will be..."

"The continent of Ylisse, starting from west Ferox."

The Khan gave a bitter chuckle, acknowledging how much of a threat was Walhart. "Are you sure you'll be able to focus on Walhart as much as you want while holding off Validar?"

"Validar is a lot of thing Basilio, many of them are bad. But Validar isn't very stupid. His arrogance will cost him his life but he is not reckless, and most importantly, he isn't in a hurry. He knows of Walhart's threats as well, who knows how many spies he already has in Valm, so he will stay down for a while and let me work patiently."

"I see... You know, I can personally confirm that all geniuses are reaally out of their sanity." He boomed a loud laugh. "Hearing you talk about bringing down two of the strongest people known to our world on your own with that confidence almost made it sound easy for a moment."

A smirk formed on the Grandmaster's face. Yes, he was probably mad, even more than his father, but then again; could anyone really blame him for insanity?

Chrom was getting pissed off as the fight went on. He knew he shouldn't.

But it was too hard to not to.

Marth's sword was incredible similar to his and his movements were very similar to his own. Not only that but she seemed to know how to counter him, while he struggled to counter Marth's personal traits of his style.

Chrom's blows were definetly stronger, but Marth was faster, dodging all of Chrom attacks and giving him two or three blows that Chrom found hard to dodge.

Marth was playing it very safely, waiting for his attacks, easily dodgin and then throwing safe slashes. Chrom was holding himself but this was starting to wear him off.

Reflet gave him advice in case he had to fight opponents similar to myrmidons. Those people were faster, but in change, they wouldn't be able to take as much damage as fighter like Chrom.

So what he had to do now was to find an opening, one blow may be enough if it was strong. It was time to change his strategy.

Instead of charging this time he took a defensive stance, inviting Marth to take lead now. The swordsman lunged toward him, unleashing a barrage of slices.

He was trying to find any patterns or weaknesses on Marth's attacks that he could take advantage off. But it was incredibly hard to focus both on that and parrying or dodging the attacks, and as consequence, he was getting small cuts in both arms.

'Dammit! How can Reflet do it so easiliy?' He remembered how Reflet made him trip over twenty time in their sparring session yesterday.

She said something about his footwork when he attacked... 'That's it!' His footwork. Even if Marth had his personal traits in his style that made it slightly different than his own. And right now he could see his own footwork on Marth's feet, and also the same mistakes that Reflet scolded him for twenty times.

And now he could also tell that he had been doing the same today... Reflet would scold him for sure...

Every three blows, depending on what side the attack came from, that same side's foot would end more ahead than it should, allowing the opponent to safely trip him, he probably had less than a second before that opening was closed and then it was the same pattern again.

There it was, the third slice came from the right, and his right foot was a lot more forward than it should. Chrom took advantage of this opportunity trying to make her trip.

Marth tried to rebalance himself, he didn't fall but he was still staggering. But it was more than enough time for Chrom to come with a powerful blow.

Marth tried to block, for it was too late to run, but the strength in Chrom's attack knocked the sword out of Marth's hand and left him staggering again. Chrom instantly hit Marth's side with the hilt of his Falchion, knocking the West Khan champion flat on the ground.

"Yield." From above Marth, Chrom pointed his sword towards the swordsman.

Marth chuckled. "Impressive... If not surprising... Fine, I yield." Chrom extended his hand and the West Khan champion accepted it. Once she got up she quickly left the arena.

Frederick, Lissa and Reflet approached Chrom to congratulate him for his victory, or so Chrom thought. The first thing Reflet did was smack the back of Chrom's head. "Took you long to figure it out. And the same error you made infinite times today and yesterday."

Chrom rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but I won, isn't that what matters?"

"Yeah, but what if you didn't? If it was a real life or death situation maybe you wouldn't have survived."

"Wow, she has you completely tamed Prince." Flavia entered the room with a smirk on her face. She was looking clearly happy. "Well fought Prince, I kinda got worried for a moment there. I am glad you managed to pull this one out, and more to the point, you have your alliance Prince."

The present Shepherds face lit up at the Khan's words. "Truly? Thanks, Khan Flavia."

The Khan laughed loudly and patted -even though slap would be more accurate- his back, sending him forward. "I should be thanking you Prince! It felt like centuries since I last held power, and I finally managed to get back at Basilio for cheating four years ago."

That last part however went unnoticed as she muttered it to herself. "Come, friends! Tonight we celebrate, in the Feroxi way!"

She didn't have anything more to do in Ferox, she only needed to get back to her room to take what few things she had and leave towards her next destination.

As she was heading to her room her thought drifted towards today's duel with the Ylissean Prince. Despite him not being as strong as she remembered she was still happy to see him.

She was also happy knowing that her actions were helping him without involving herself with Chrom too much.

All her thoughts stopped when a shiver ran down her spine. She stopped walking. She was trying to figure out why the sudden feeling of dread. Since nothing was in front of her she slowly turned around, only to find reason of her feelings.

Behind her was a man with a dark cloak, unusual white hair and crimson eyes. 'It's him...' Plegia's Grandmaster.

The man slowly approached her with a gentle smile, but she tried not to be fooled by it. Behind that gentle smile hid the mind of a genius, who could read people and battlefields like open books without breaking a sweat.

She knew he was a gentle and a selfless man... But with his allies. Marth had heard stories of his actions against anyone who threatened those he loved. And right now, Marth wasn't at his side, so she had to choose carefully her words.

"Greetings, Sir Marth." He gave a small bow, which Marth gave back. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Robin, and I currently hold the title of Grandmaster of Plegia. Would you mind if I discussed with you a couple of matters before you leave?"

"Sure, please go ahead." She had to talk to him and hope that he wouldn't find out to much.

"First of all allow to congratulate you for the amazing duel you put up with Prince Chrom, it's a shame you had to hold back for whatever reasons you had, now I'm curious as to what extent your ability with the sword goes to."

From his position could instantly see Marth gritting her teeth. She had to try to find an excuse to leave before he... "By the way, that sword of yours..."

Before he finds out more. "Can I borrow it for a couple of seconds? I must say it is quite a beautiful sword."

She couldn't let him have the sword! He knew of Falchion's properties, where he to take the sword and see that he can't cut anything with it he'll instantly know that this Falchion is a true one.

"I am really sorry Sir Robin, my sword is a very important heirloom for my family, so I don't feel comfortable with someone other than me without it. I hope you understand Sir Robin. Now, If you don't mind, I will be taking my leave."

She gave him a little bow, his smile never leaving his face. When she turned around to proceed with her way, she found that the end of the hallway was nowhere visible, instead, a dense dark purple fog limited her vision in front of her.

"Why the rush? Sir Marth, we were having a lovely chat, weren't we?" This time his smile changed drastically from a gentle smile to what Marth could describe as a evil grin. "Or would you prefer if I called you 'Lady' Marth."

The blue haired girl gave a step back, remembering that she couldn't with the dense fog around -which she now noticed that came from the Grandmaster-.

She wasn't sure she could still act coolly for a lot more if he continued his presuree. "Tell me, why did you help Chrom? Tell me, how is it that you have a REAL Falchion? And most importantly..."

He closed his eyes for a moment, Marth's hand almost reaching for the hilt of her sword. The moment the man open his eyer they were glowing with a bright red color, and even more dark magic was emanating from the Grandmaster.

"Why do you hide the Brand of the Exalt under that mask!?"

Suddenly all the fog turned into strong bright purple flames that seemed to engulf the whole hallway, leaving only the distance between them without any flames.

Marth instinctively unsheathed her sword to protect herself, she felt really cold despite all the flames around her. The grip on her sword wasn't as storng as she wanted it to be, and all her body was trembling. But why?

 _'His presence can be overwhelming if you are not ready, I remember him standing in front of all of us and all of the enemy troops taking instinctively a step back, I am glad he wasn't our enemy.'_ Se remembered the words of her late aunt and now she understood it all.

She was scared.

She was scared to death. It was as if the tactician had warped her to hell and was about to make her understand the word pain. She hadn't felt like this since that day... The feeling was all too familiar!

'She doesn't appear to be plotting nothing suspicious, and look at her... She looks like she is about to faint. Maybe I'll have to wait for my answers, if she was trying to help Chrom then maybe she can make my job easier.'

Robin manifested a chuckle and all the flames suddenly disappeared while his eyes lost their glow as his gentle smile made it's way through his face again.

"My my, sorry if I scared you Lady Marth, I just couldn't help but get carried away. But you don't seem to be plotting anything harmful to my plans so don't worry, I'll keep your secrets safe. If you don't mind, I will now take my leave, I hope we meet again so we can engage again in another friendly conversation."

He chuckled at that last part and made a small bow before leaving. Marth however was still holding the sword, arms trembling and legs like jelly.

She stood like this for half a minute before she dropped on her knees and began to pant to get as much air as possible in her lungs. She also noticed she was sweating buckets despite how much cold she felt.

Of course, she had heard stories, but she had known from him anything but kindness, and he was a hero to her! How could she even expect something like what she had just seen!

Robin's thought were in turn on the blue haired warrior. 'For now I'll let her be. But sooner or later I'll need my answers. Answers regarding her motives, swordplay, sword, the Brand...'

And most importantly, even though weak, he could still feel it.

'…her Fellblood.'

* * *

 **So yeah, here you have Robin. Have him at your side and he's gonna be the best of the best. Have him against you and he will show no mercy 90% of the times.**

 **Regarding Reflet punishing Chrom there's two things. I always felt like Female Robin always acted as some sort of 'Mother' to the army, that's why she is the one who told Chrom not to drink, as well as the one who punished him, but don't worry, she won't overdo it to the point where it's annyoing for the readers (I hope). The second thing, well, what my GF did to me when I was seriously hangover three weeks ago a day before a recovery exam is what Reflet did, try it, it's seriously annoying.**

 **Also sorry if the battle scenes are not very well written, I am still struggling with writing in english so feel free to give any advice or point out mistakes.**

 **I have also recently finished Lunatic Birthright, Hard Revelations and Hard Conquest. Storywise I feel like the three were really meh (the writing could definetely improve) but still better than Awakening, the characters were mostly ok (with exceptions like Niles who are awesome), still better in conquest though, but gameplay wise the game is pretty well done, specially Conquest, I am a huge fan of Conquest.**

 **Also I don't like Corrin, I am not a fan of Avatars exisitng in Fire Emblem, but I think they are great for Fics though. At least Robin and Kris were good as Avatars, but Corrin, I don't like him, he should have been a normal lord instead of a personalizable Avatar. Also, 2nd Generation needs to go, in Awakening it was understandable even if someone might not like it, but if they don't plan in making it like in FE4 I think they should forget 2nd generation for some time.**

 **Well, I could keep ranting on Fates but this isn't what you came for, so I'll stop. Instead, will post a poll regarding my next fic. It won't be decisive but it'll help me decide. I will start to write the next chapter right now, but I recently purchased I am Setsuna for PS4, and still have to finish Thracia 776 (hard AF!) and Conquest Lunatic.**

 **As always, review follow suggestions and all of that. See ya!**


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